JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Cry Wolf
by Professional Protagonist
Summary: Germany is experiencing a string of disasters, each one as inexplicable as it is disturbing. Follow the adventure of Jonas Johan Priester, a "lost" member of the Joestar bloodline, as he and his friends delve deep into a political web and supernatural conspiracy that will shake the foundation of the world. Stand proud!
1. Prologue: Free Fallin

_Writer's note:_ Before you get to reading the short introduction to this story, I just wanted to say a couple things up front. First off, I do not read the JoJo manga, I am limited to viewing the anime. As such I am not aware of the finer details of anything that occurs after Part 4: Diamond is Unbreakable. I have done some research on the major points, but that research is by no means absolute and thorough. As such, if any of the powers, abilities, and characterizations you see here end up resembling any canon JoJo characters after Part 4, then it is by coincidence. Any reviews posted, if you could avoid any spoilers for Parts 5-forward, I would appreciate it. Second, this is an alternate universe, and as such continuity errors are not just expected, they are intentional. With this disclaimer out of the way, time to begin.

 **Prologue: Free Fallin'**

"We've got one coming into trauma care! Massive bleeding in the abdominal region caused by lacerations!" Cried out the EMT as he wheeled in the patient.

"Dr. Jane, you've got this one," spoke the attending on staff. His voice barely registered any concern, showcasing the great experience he had as a physician.

"Yes, Dr. Krieger," came my hasty reply. I had found myself rushing toward the patient and taking charge of the various medical staff wheeling him in. I observed the man as we went toward the nearest unoccupied trauma room.

He was quite petite for a man, no taller than five feet four inches, with an equally small build. However he had some well built muscle, something I could feel as I examined him. Judging by the attire he was likely in a motorcycle gang, a high risk demographic, so I got it in my head that his injuries had to have come from gang violence. Some sort of long, thin shaft was sticking out of his gut. It had been lodged in deep. _Really_ deep. The man was losing blood at an extremely fast rate. I'd need to get him a constant transfusion on IV before removing the foreign object.

"Nurse, I need a constant supply of plasma. Get it hooked in now. Let's also get him put under some anesthesia so I can extract the-" suddenly I felt a sharp pain in my arm. I glanced down and, to my shock, found the man had grabbed me. His sharp blue eyes locked onto mine with a steely gaze.

"Please Mary, no anesthesia. I want to be awake. Blood type is O+." I was taken aback! He wasn't shaking at all, he was so solid! Despite having already lost a lot of blood, despite the physical trauma, this man had such fortitude, such mental will, that he could perfectly read my name tag in order to give me his requests personally!

"Doctor?" my nurse jolted me back to reality.

"Yes. Of course. We'll take good care of you, sir. Cancel that anesthesia, and let's get some O blood mixed in with that plasma, stat!" At this point I retrieved the surgical tools I would need to tackle this procedure. By the time I turned around back to my patient, the team of nurses had already gotten his IV setup.

"I need suction on this wound." No sooner had I spoken an intern physician got in there and began sucking away the excess blood. I looked back to my patient.

"I need to poke around the wound to assess the damage. It's going to hurt." I wasn't asking permission. In response he merely nodded. Once I began my exploration, he winced, but managed to stay still.

"You've got unbelievable constitution," I commented.

"Years of getting knocked around will do that, ja?" He half joked. "But arrows are a new one for me."

"This is an arrow?" I confirmed. "That explains why the entry wound is larger than the visible object. In that case, the arrowhead is going to make extraction very difficult. What I'm saying," I took the opportunity to look my patient in the eyes. "Is that this'll hurt like a bitch."

He nodded. "Ja. Just tell me when."

What followed was an arduous surgical process that lasted nearly an hour. The man's size hid a tough as nails personality and a tremendous will to live. I had certainly talked my fair share of patients through a procedure, but with his calm, even tempered voice and chatty attitude, it felt as though he were talking me through his own operation! But finally we came near the end. The arrow's removal had proven incredibly difficult. Even accounting for the organs it had gotten wrapped around it, the thing was solidly stuck, almost as though it were trying to prevent its own removal. Fighting back. How absurd a thought was that?

"Ok, one. More! TUG!" The arrow pulled clear, separated from my patient's various organs, now past the skin. I held the offending object up triumphantly. "Quickly, get that wound sealed!"

Before my intern could get in close enough to close the wound, something utterly bizarre occurred. As though guided by a mind of its own, the arrow jumped from my right hand, slicing deep into my left as it fell. "Ugh!" I cried out. Biting my lip from the sudden unexpected pain, I checked my hand for damage. Sure enough my surgical glove had a clean tear in it… but there was no break in my skin. In fact, the pain was entirely gone as well. What just happened?

My confusion wasn't done yet. At that moment I felt something bubbling beneath the surface of my skin, all across my body. Something pushing outward in every direction, threatening to erupt. Then with a great release of pressure it came. Some manner of vaguely purple light poured forth from my body in every direction, moving like a curtain and enveloping the entire room. No, not just the room. I could sense it moving much further, but I had no idea how I knew. I just _felt_ it expanding outward in a great distance, enveloping the entire hospital and then some.

"Are you seeing this?" I asked, wonder in my voice.

"Seeing what?" my intern asked, going about taping up the man's wounded gut.

"This weird purple light," the patient replied, his voice far less strained than it had been before. "You can't miss it, ja?"

"Holy shit…" whispered the intern. I thought he had just caught on, but he pointed out something else entirely. "No purple light, but look! The patient's wound!"

He tore back the surgical tape, revealing the small man's perfectly sculpted, healthy body. Not an injury or a scar, or hell even a blemish in sight! My mouth hung open wide. Judging by the awe on the patient's face, he had no idea what the cause of this miracle was either.

"What in the world…" I couldn't help but reach out and touch the man's chest. His heartbeat was powerful; I could feel it vibrating down the length of my arm. I ran my fingers down to his belly, feeling the well toned abs. Not a single break in the skin, no injuries whatsoever.

"Maybe you should buy me dinner first, Liebling?" The man gave me a childish wink.

"Shush, you," I commanded. This was simply too amazing not to explore.

"Dr. Jane?" I heard a new voice from the doorway. I turned to see the attending on staff, Dr. Krieger.

"Yes Dr.?"

"What's uh… the status of your patient?" I had never heard this level of confusion from the senior physician before.

"He…" I paused, wracking my brain for just how to describe this phenomenon. After a few seconds I just went for it. "He made a miraculous recovery. There are no signs he's ever had any physical trauma in his life."

"I see." He paused for a moment, checking over his shoulder, then back to me.

"Sir?" I asked, grabbing his attention.

"Yes. Well. Dr. Jane, it appears that, well. I'm not sure what to make of this, but… From what I can tell, the entire hospital has just made the very same miraculous recovery. Every single person in these walls is as healthy as they've ever been."

My eyes bulged outward. "Everyone?!"

Dr. Krieger held out his hand. In it he held three silver fillings. Confused, I glanced back up to him. "I've had these since I was fifteen, but they just popped out of my mouth. My teeth have never felt better."

That's when I felt an intense rush. The purple light that had enveloped the hospital, I could feel, sense it shrinking at an incredible rate. Suddenly it all converged back to a single point: inside of me. "Whoa!"

"I know, nobody knows what to make of it!" Dr. Krieger exclaimed.

"She wasn't talking about the miracle," my patient spoke up. "She was talking about that purple… field."

"I'm sorry sir, what are you talking about?" the doctor replied.

I turned back around to the man, the only other person that seemed to be able to see what was going on. "Who are you?"

The man smiled, and answered. His name was Jonas Johan Priester. This is the story of how I saved his life, and how he became the deadliest killer in history.

* * *

Free Fallin'

User: Dr. Mary Jane

Power - E

Speed - B

Range - A

Durability - A

Precision - C

Potential - B


	2. Chapter 1: Prisoner of Your Eye

**Chapter 1: Prisoner of Your Eye**

4:30 a.m. in the slums of Berlin, a young man of twenty two eyes the few people still up and about for a good mark. Small for a man, he stands at exactly five foot four inches, with a matching body frame that nonetheless is well toned with strong muscle. His blue eyes scan discriminately for the next target of his skilled pickpocketing, or witty guile. His white tanned skin blended well into the shadows, matched by his beard scruff and shaggy black hair. A nearby street light illuminated his black motorcycle leathers, in particular his black jacket with a broken pink heart emblazoned on the back. His belt buckle matched the symbol on his jacket, contrasting nicely with the white belt. He smiled slyly to himself, lifting a wallet from an obnoxious pimp unfortunate enough to wander by. Once he had cleared the mark, the man checked inside the wallet, peeling it open with hands covered in dark blue fingerless gloves. He had to chuckle. The fifty euros showed that the obnoxious man wasn't nearly as much of a big deal as he wanted to look.

This man had spent his life growing on the streets, dodging criminals, scavenging to survive, refining his wits and reflexes. A conman through and through, but he prided himself on never cheating the good and innocent. There was no honor in stealing from good people. This is the man who makes a living stealing from the cruel, cheating the cheaters, dodging criminals, and his name is Jonas Johan Priester.

As Jonas pocketed the change he had picked up and tossed the wallet into a nearby rubbish bin, his discerning eyes picked up on the man who would be his next target. Strolling down from the other direction of the sidewalk was a man significantly bigger than Jonas, six foot two inches in fact. Tall as he was, his build was average at best, and his outfit just screamed, "I'm an overcompensating fop!" Regal blonde hair as well kept as hair could be, milky white skin, blue eyes, he was an Aryan's wet dream. Black slacks contrasted with the man's pink button up shirt, octopus shaped tie, white trainers, and gold plated monocle over his left eye. For reasons only he would truly know, the man wore at least six different leather belts, each one overlapping the last. Perhaps most peculiar of all he carried a bow slung over one shoulder, and a strange ornate gold-colored arrow held in his left hand. _Fantastisch!_ Jonas thought to himself.

Hands in his pocket, Jonas began heading toward the man in question. As they closed the distance between each other, he held his cool, keeping his head down but making certain to pay attention to their relative positioning with one another. Once close enough, Jonas stumbled forward, forcibly bumping into the man's shoulder. In the process he threw out his arms to catch himself on the pavement, and in doing so scattered a number of coins around. So far so good.

"Hey, what where you're going! The hell is wrong with you?!" the man shouted, raising a foot ready to kick Jonas as he was doubled over on the sidewalk.

"Shawry-hic!" he lazily apologized, swaying a bit. He scratched the back of his head and put on a goofy as hell smile, breathing heavily to make sure the smell of alcohol really permeated the air around them.

"Ugh. Filthy drunk! You're not worth my time." The man carrying the bow and arrow turned to leave, but Jonas called out for him first.

"Hey, shawry, but can yoush help me pickupsh? Hic!" Making sure his arms shook enough to remain convincing, Jonas began to pick up the coins bit by bit, intentionally missing a few as he did so.

 _Hm. This fool might just be worth my time anyway,_ thought the man. _This is a perfect opportunity to make some extra pocket change. And maybe have a meal while I'm at it._ He nodded to Jonas, then set down on his knees. Setting the arrow down to free up both hands, he began picking up the coins, but pocketed them rather than handing them back to Jonas. Surely this drunk wouldn't notice that his pocket was a bit lighter than it had been before, right?

Perfect. This elitist took the bait, exactly as planned. After a second or two when he was certain the man had dropped his guard, Jonas put the rest of his plan into action! Throwing all his weight into the motion, Jonas headbutt his target square in the face! Keeping the momentum going, he simultaneously grabbed the arrow placed on the ground, and flipped over the man with the agility and skill of an olympic athlete.

"Ugh! What the he-" the now arrowless man turned, his nose bloodied by the impact.

"See ya, Fickfehler!" Jonas called back, taking an early lead. Further displaying his athleticism, Jonas turned into the alleyway he had originated from, used his momentum to kick off the wall, and reach a fire escape significantly higher than any normal man could reach with a regular jump. His right hand latched onto the bottom of the escape while he clutched the ornate arrow in his left. Timing it perfectly, Jonas threw himself up higher on the backswing, heading up the different floors of the fire escape this way with every motion.

The young man reached the rooftop, tumbling over it. He took a second to catch his breath. Very few people could have caught up with him at this point, but he knew to keep moving if he wanted to truly escape his pursuer- **Boom!**

Dust and bits of stone shrapnel flew past Jonas, harmlessly bouncing off of his leather jacket. He spun around, taken aback by the sudden sound of an explosion, only to see that the corner of the building had been blown apart! A small section, about a meter long, was just gone without explanation! He didn't have much time to think the situation over either, as a long, slimy tentacle grabbed the ledge created by the sudden explosion. With a mighty heave the tentacle pulled up none other than the very man Jonas had just scammed. The man landed with grace and poise, the tentacle retracting into the man's right sleeve.

"What the hell?!" Jonas cried out. Once again he was on the run. Rather than dodge around a nearby chimney, he opted to vault over it entirely. As soon as his legs had cleared the stack of bricks, it too was blown apart right beneath him! _What the hell is this guy?! It's like he can bomb things from a distance! And I don't even want to think about what he does with that tentacle!_ Mustering his lifetime of parkour, Jonas ducked into a roll under the cover of dust kicked up by the exploding chimney. By the time the dust cleared, Jonas was already jumping to the next rooftop.

"Urgh!" His momentum was cut short and the air knocked from his lungs as a long, powerful tentacle wrapped itself around his gut. Tumbling down he spun around to see the man standing near the edge of the building. Damn, he had to be unbelievably fast in order to catch up like that! Jonas thought for a moment that if he could stab into the man's tentacle with the arrow that he'd be released, but dismissed the idea almost as soon as it came up. The thing looked too valuable to risk damaging like that, and life or death situation or not Jonas _needed_ that payday.

Instead the young man ran his feet along the wall of the building in order to swing up to a window, and crashed through it. Glass shards burst around randomly, cutting into his skin. Some wounds were deep, others were light, but it had the intended effect. The tentacle released him as it ran along the window, nearly getting sliced off entirely.

Having learned his lesson before, Jonas didn't stop to catch his breath. This pursuer was nothing short of inhuman and he needed to get away. He dodged his way through a family's living room right into the front door. That was definitely gonna leave some bruising, but it was a hell of a lot better than death by exploding octopus man!

"The fuck is going on in my flat?!" Jonas heard a guttural growling of some middle-aged man as he descended the stairwell. "Get the fuck out!"

 _Scheisse! He's already in the flat?!_ He stepped up his sprinting, dropping between stairwells to cut down on time. In only a handful of seconds Jonas had reached the front door.

"It's no use running!" called out the man, clearly enjoying himself. "I can _smell_ your blood!"

 _Time for an old reliable!_ Thought Jonas, pulling out a large bundle of marbles. He tossed them behind blindly and heard the children's toys scattering in front of the doorway to the flats. Nary a second later and he heard the grunts of a man stumbling around. That bought some time, but it wouldn't be enough to lose this freak!

"Urk!" Jonas tumbled forward as an intense pressure struck his back, like a powerful punch. From a bodybuilder. On steroids. As he fell forward and rolled along the ground, he could see the monster of a man still chasing from some distance away. Now he had tentacles sprouting up from both sleeves and his pant legs too! They were carrying him along the ground, avoiding the marbles while he held the bow in front of him, string outstretched but with no arrow. Jonas fought through the pain to get back up and keep running. Before he could turn back around the man released the bowstring, and Jonas felt another invisible punch striking him this time in the gut. He toppled back over, face down this time.

"You have caused me _enough_ trouble!" Again Jonas attempted to stand, but the monster man had caught up. Tentacles wrapped around the young man's neck and wrists, pinning him to the wall. Foppish as the man seemed at first, Jonas couldn't deny that messing with him was a tremendous mistake, at least from a health perspective. But from a perspective of sheer joy? It was _thrilling!_

"You like smiling so much, boy?" the octopus man questioned, bringing his face in close enough that Jonas could practically taste his breath. "I'll make sure that you get to smile for eternity, as a corpse!"

Just then Jonas felt an inexplicable pressure where the tentacles had made contact with his body. He couldn't turn his face far enough to get an idea of what all was going on, but the sensation reminded him of when he had given blood, only on a much bigger scale. This was incredible! He couldn't help but muster a weak laugh.

"What's so funny, hm? Do you have a death wish? I'm happy to oblige." Keeping Jonas pinned in place with the tentacles, the man held up his bow and pulled the string back, aimed directly for Jonas's face.

"Heh. I thought I was… Prepared for anything on these streets." Jonas lifted his eyes enough to meet with his attacker's, showing his steely glare. "Thank you for showing me I have more to learn!"

Jonas tapped his right heel against the wall, activating the spring loaded knife. A single blade jut from the bottom of his foot, and he kicked with all his strength right into the man's groin. Jonas didn't stop there. He showed off his acrobatic flexibility, lifting his leg up to a clean 170 degree angle, slicing the man's flesh all along as he did so.

"GAAAAAAAGH-URK!" the man cried out in pain until his neck was slashed open by the motion. With all the air escaping his lungs, that put an end to the screaming. Pulling back and writhing in pain, Jonas was released. The young man collapsed onto the ground, feeling a sudden sharp aching pain. He looked down to find the arrow had been lodged into his gut in the tumble, and _damn_ was it deep.

"Scheisse…" he mumbled. Well, if he had to bleed out on the street, at least he took that flachwischer with him. Speaking of, he spared a second to look up at that freak who… Was putting himself back together?! "Scheisse!"

The octopus man let out a deep sigh, then turned to look back at Jonas with a grin. He… He didn't have a scratch on him! His clothing had been torn to pieces, but there were no signs of injury on the man himself! What _is_ this monster?!

"You've wasted enough of my time, punk. Time to-" he stopped short, seeing the arrow lodged in Jonas's body. The grin turned into a frown, then the face of pure rage. "NO! I've got to kill you, now! Under Pressure!"

Jonas had to blink to make sure he wasn't seeing things. Something else emerged from this guy's body! His vision was blurred and hazy, but it definitely looked like something actually came out of him! Another mass of tentacles he'd wager, but everything was going red. The other thing was coming toward him, lifting its tentacles up for a killing blow. No. No no. NO!

"LEBEN!" Just as this other _thing_ was about to touch Jonas, he heard something shriek in tune with his own mental protests. Another _thing_ materialized, but this time it came from him! Some sort of clawed arm covered in metallic feathers shot out from Jonas's body, punching the tentacle creature right in the center of mass. The thing flew back several meters, and for some reason the octopus man was also tossed backward!

"Ugh! No! Nononono! I wasn't fast enough, DAMMIT!" He looked up to the sky as it began to change from dark blue into orange. After a second he spat on the ground. "You're lucky tonight. Savor your last day alive, punk!"

Before Jonas knew what had happened, the man retreated into the darkness of the nearby alley. Summoning all his remaining strength, Jonas stood up to fight against the pain. He had to get as far away from that freak as possible. He needed a hospital. Crap, which was was the nearest hospital? He could barely see past the haze of blurry vision, so he focused on the only thing he could: a lone stop sign at the intersection up ahead. Jonas stumbled his first couple steps, but kept a laser focus. Before he knew it, he had arrived at the sign. That was odd. He had only take a couple steps, hadn't he? He looked around again, this time seeing a street light up ahead. There, that was his next checkpoint. Against he began working toward it.

Again Jonas found himself at the destination before he even realized he had gotten halfway. What was this? Was he blacking out? That was not a good sign. Ok, ok, next checkpoint. Jonas looked around and was able to spot a bus stop, and it even had a bus! He'd never be able to make it before the bus took off, but he could try. Jonas once more focused on that one spot hard as he could and stumbled forward… And found himself at the bus stop.

"Oh my god, someone call an ambulance!" screamed once of the bus's clients. Wait, the bus was still here? Jonas looked around to find a few citizens coming to comfort him. Had he… Had he blacked out again, long enough for the next bus to come by? But they'd have seen him pulling up to the stop, wouldn't they? What was going on?

Jonas breathed deeply against the pain to calm down while an ambulance came around and picked him up. A wonderful older woman stayed with him until they had him loaded up into the vehicle, comforting him with stories. Once loaded inside they put him on an IV drip to replenish the lost fluids, and he felt his senses slowly but surely coming back to him.

"We've got an injured man inbound for Berlin Central," spoke an EMT through a transceiver. "Looks like he's been through a meat grinder, and got some kind of rod stuck in his midsection."

Jonas smiled once again. He didn't know how he got where he was, but he was glad. He needed some rest pretty badly, so he closed his eyes and allowed himself to drift off to sleep. Until he got to the hospital, that is.

* * *

 _Prisoner of Your Eye_

User: Jonas Johan Priester

Power - B

Speed - A

Range - E

Durability - B

Precision - C

Potential - C


	3. Chapter 2: Under Pressure

**Chapter 2: Under Pressure**

"You fell down some stairs?" Dr. Mary Jane asked rather incredulously, hands on her hips. She was never very great at hiding her feelings. "I find this story rather difficult to believe."

"Ja," Jonas replied without any hesitation. He was currently reclining back in the hospital bed, flipping through channels on the television.

"Bizarre occurrences continue to mount across Germany-"

"Lake Starnberg completely vanished overnight-"

"Officials say these series of smokeless fires are the work of a serial arsonist-"

"Still no word as to the source of the locust swarm infesting Hamburg-"

Jonas stopped flipping through the channels, leaving it on a children's cartoon station. Sighing heavily, he set the tv remote to the side, then took a long gulp from his bottle of water. Once that was done he looked up to see his doctor was still staring at him with a raised eyebrow.

"Are you going to tell me the truth?" she inquired. Jonas opted to deflect the question entirely.

"Why does every network have to be broadcasting the same news stories? We get it, the country is going to Hell in a handbasket." The young man looked to his side and spotted a pudding cup. Puckering his lips, he popped the plastic off the top and began eating straight from the container.

"You realize you have a spoon right here, don't you?" Mary pointed out, holding the plastic ware up for him. Jonas shrugged it off without a word and continued eating. "Anyway… Yeah, it can be annoying the 24 hour news coverage we're getting, but these things are pretty freaky. Are you really telling me that none of these things are bothering you? Or that now something just as freaky happened right here at this hospital?"

Jonas finished his pudding cup in record time and casually tossed it into the nearby waste bin, banking it off the wall. "Two points! As you Americans would say. That's a basketball reference, right?"

The doctor shook her head in frustration, but before she could speak again Jonas kept up the shenanigans. "So it _isn't_ a basketball reference?"

"Herr Priester!" Mary slammed her hands on the table next to Jonas's hospital bed. "You are my patient until such a time you choose to leave this hospital, so I need you to work with me and _focus!_ "

A few seconds passed as Jonas stared at her, straight faced. He was unflappable in their interactions thus far and he had no intention of changing that now. "But Liebling, we are not discussing my health."

An audible sigh delayed Mary's response. "Herr Priester, please don't get too familiar with me. But more to the point, in order to properly assess the nature of your wounds I'm going to need you to be honest with me. You really expect me to believe that you just happened to fall down the stairs while carrying an arrow? That doesn't explain the multitude of lacerations you had all over your body, and I'm pretty sure you had a broken rib."

Jonas shrugged, and while he remained as casual as possible, the truth was that everything still had him somewhat freaked out. He was simply better at hiding it than most. "What's the point? Everything is all healed up, ja?"

"And yet you, along with half of our patients, opted to stay for further examination in order to explore the cause of this mysterious miracle. I can't do that if you remain untruthful." Her words became more stern as she forced herself to meet his eyes.

"It's not like the nature of the injury or disease made a difference," he retorted back, gesturing emphatically. "Physical injuries, chronic illnesses, infections, even scar tissue and missing limbs from years ago. From what I heard, it didn't matter. It was all wiped clean. The only thing I didn't hear about was the old geezers. By the end of it, they were still old geezers."

Mary leaned back, closing her eyes and thinking deeply. He was right. You didn't have to be a doctor to see that absolutely everybody was completely healed within only a few seconds. They stayed the same age, but it was like they were remade into the best version of themselves as they could have been. After nearly twelve hours of testing and examinations, everybody still in the hospital was in absolutely perfect health. Well, everybody except for the new patients. The ones that came in after the curtain of purple light. Suddenly Mary's eyes lit up as she reminded herself! The light!

"That's all very true, Herr Priester," she began, leaning back in. "But you and I are the only ones that saw what made it happen. I asked around the staff and patients, but nobody else seems to have seen that purple light that-"

"That came out of you?" he interrupted. Mary was a bit taken aback.

"Y-yes. Yes, that came out of me." She began speaking in a lower tone, more saddled with the mental burden. "You don't seem to be especially bothered by it. The miracle or that it seems to have come from me. Why?"

Rather than answering directly, Jonas flipped the television back by a channel. Thy were greeted by a news anchor covering a story about a number of buildings that had the rooftops or sides completely removed from them overnight in a completely seamless separation. No destruction, almost like they had just been popped off and left nearby in the streets. Naturally this was causing massive traffic build up.

"Does this answer your question, Mary?" he asked.

"Doctor Jane. And…" She sighed. "I suppose so. You can only run into so much weirdness before it doesn't feel so remarkable anymore. But still, only the two of us saw it. And Herr Priester, I… I can still feel that thing, whatever it was. I feel it inside of me, like a constant pressure, pushing to get out."

"Really now?" Jonas sat up in the hospital bed, excitement showing on his face. "Then let it out. I'd love to see it again."

"What?" Mary was taken aback by the man's frankness. "I-I can't. I don't even know how and even if I did, we have no idea what might happen! What if it doesn't heal people anymore? It could hurt them, or worse!"

"Sounds like excuses to me," Jonas said rather off-handedly, switching the channel back to something that wasn't the constant news coverage. "Don't you have new patients swarming the place since they heard about the miracle? Wouldn't you like to help them?"

"Of course. I'm a doctor. It's what I built up my life for. But you don't know that it will help again!"

"Maybe." Jonas wasn't even looking at her by this point. "But you don't know it'll hurt anybody. And we've got precedence to suggest it won't."

"I'm not having this argument with you, Herr Priester. My mind is made up. Now if you excuse me, I have other patients that will, hopefully, be more cooperative." Doctor Mary Jane turned to leave, but in doing so she bumped the table by Jonas's bed. This knocked the bottle of water over the side, but it never did reach the ground.

"Heads up!" Jonas reached out instinctively for his drink, but his hand never touched the thing. Instead an arm materialized outward from within his body. This clawed, metallic arm covered in feathers snatched up the bottle in the blink of an eye! Jonas stared, mystified, before mumbling, "So it was real…"

"What's that?" Mary turned back around, halting mid turn and freezing in place. She wasn't exactly sure what she was seeing and had no idea how to react. After a second of staring the metal arm retracted back into Jonas's body, leaving the bottled water in his own 's when Mary's senses returned to her and she immediately became giddy with excitement. "You've got something inside of you too! I knew you had to be different from everyone else, I knew it!"

Jonas opened his mouth to come up with some clever lie, fabricate some ruse to get out of the situation, but he realized that there was nothing he could say in the situation. Nothing would dissuade her from what she had seen with her own eyes. There was definitely something up. She was smart enough to see that, and the evidence was too great for him to create any cover up. Slowly he closed his mouth and nodded in agreement with her.

"Alright, spill it!" the doctor commanded, taking a seat on the corner of his bed. "I need you to tell me what's going on here, and leave no details untouched."

"Well, I can't really do that." Jonas sat the water bottle back onto the side table. "The thing is, I don't understand what is going on myself. But I do have some ideas, and they all revolve around that arrow."

"You mean _your_ arrow?" Mary shot back in a semi-playful, semi-accusatory tone. Jonas smiled. He liked this woman.

"Ja, _my_ arrow. I may have been a bit out of it with the pain and blood loss, but I saw that it cut your hand and immediately afterward that light came out of you."

"So you believe this to be a correlation?" she interrupted. Jonas nodded in agreement.

"I had mine, this hand, come out in the early morning, when I got my injuries. Looks like I'm telling you the truth, Liebling." Mary's brow furrowed. "Sorry, Dr. Liebling."

Jonas gave a playful wink, while all Mary could do was shake her head. "Anyway, I lifted the arrow off of a bad guy. Real superior attitude, decked out in flamboyant clothes, even wore a monocle." Mary had to raise an eyebrow at that detail, but let Jonas continue. "I quickly found out that whatever this guy was, it wasn't human. Almost nobody can keep up with me in the streets, but he was on my trail like nothing. Of course, that's the least weird thing about him."

The young man breathed in deep, preparing to tell her the full story. "He carried this bow around with him too. When he pulled the string back and let go, whatever he aimed at was hit by some kind of invisible force. He blew apart a chimney and the corner of a roof, and knocked me on my arsch. It felt like getting punched by something you couldn't see, _really hard._ And that's not even getting into the tentacles!"

"Tentacles?" Mary had to double check that she had heard him correctly. It threw her for a loop.

"Ja, tentacles. Out of his sleeves and pants. It was pretty disgusting. Anyway, he ended up pinning me to a wall and somehow he was sucking my blood out of me with those tentacles. I fought him off, but in the process got the arrow stuck in my gut. That's when I saw him use of of those… Apparitions? Whatever you want to call these things inside of us, he used one too."

"Was it like ours?" she asked, genuinely interested. Mary had begun taking notes on her clipboard.

"Nein. I had blood in my eyes and my vision was blurry, but it looked like a bunch of tentacles. I can't be sure, but it definitely was different from either of ours." The doctor nodded as she jotted the details down, not even looking up. "So it was coming in closer, probably to finish me off, and that's when my metal arm came out and punched it. It knocked his apparition away, but looked like it hurt him too. That's when he ran off, swearing he'd be back for me. Honestly couldn't tell you why he didn't stick around. Metal punching arms or not that was the best chance to kill me."

Mary was skilled in writing quickly. As such, she put down her pen less than a second after Jonas had finished speaking. No sooner had she done so she looked back up to her patient. She had a rather excited smile on her face.

"I knew I would get the truth out of how you got injured." She grinned wide. "You had to know more about what was going on, so all I had to do was play the scared angle to get you to open up more. It took more coaxing than I thought, but you gave way eventually."

Jonas stared back at her dumbfounded. This woman, did she just play him? That wasn't supposed to happen. She read him like a book and pulled out exactly what he needed to hear to get him to drop his guard. Damn, he did have a weakness for a woman in need. Slowly his look of shock and confusion contorted into a smile of glee. He had definitely underestimated her.

"Now I think you don't need to be a doctor to know that there isn't anything in this hospital that can test for magical arrow changes, but you're still welcome to stay and be examined for any side effects caused by my, how did you call it? Apparition? Or you're free to leave. I've sent the arrow to the lab to have it tested. If you'll excuse me, we've been having a stampede of new patients who want to experience the 'miracle' for themselves and I still have a job to do." Without further delay Doctor Mary Jane left Jonas's room, not even waiting to hear what he had to say. He straightened up in his bed and suddenly let out a burst of laughter. Oh yes. He _knew_ he liked that woman!

* * *

 **Crash!**

A loud banging sound jolted Jonas awake in the late night. The sound came from somewhere down the hall, followed by some screaming. Curious, he got out of bed to check outside his room. His bare feet danced quietly across the cold tile floor. Once at his destination, Jonas checked around the door and was shocked by what he saw.

Four nurse's bodies lay on the floor in various positions. Each one's skin was pulled taut against their bones, and all color was gone. Another nurse had been pinned up against the hallway wall, hanging upside down. She had been suspended by two tentacles, while a third was forced into her mouth. She too was quickly losing color, while her assailant chuckled to himself.

"I do love a blood rush to the head. It's simply the best way to eat. Unless maybe you want to tell me where my arrow is?" It was the same freak Jonas had had his run in with the previous night. The woman could only gag in response to his question. "Didn't think so."

Jonas's first instinct was to run. Not away, he was no coward. He ran toward the freak, overwhelmed with the desire, the need, to save that woman's life. Quickly and quietly he dashed down the hall. Just before reaching the freak, he jumped up to kick hard off of the wall, propelling himself with far greater momentum. Fist outstretched, he swung a hit for the man's head!

And was promptly slammed into the wall alongside the injured nurse, as three more tentacles burst outward from the man's shirt, tearing the fabric to pieces. They grabbed Jonas by the arms and one leg, then secured him to the wall. His ears rang from the force of his injury.

"Uh uh uh." The freakish man wagged a finger at Jonas. "That's too bad. You weren't aware I had eyes in the back of my head, were you?"

As if on cue, the man's shirt rippled with movement. Bothered by the holes, he tore it off himself and left the tatters on the floor. Right there attached to his back was a massive octopus. It was impossible to tell where the man's flesh ended and the sea creature's flesh began, the fusion of their bodies had been seamless. Jonas felt disgusted, but the nurse fared far worse as the contents of her stomach got caught between her throats and the invading mouth tentacle.

"I knew I would find you here as soon as I heard the story about a miracle healing. Heh heh heh. A healing stand. And I thought I had something to worry about! But it just means I get to prolong your suffering until you're too mentally broken to heal again. Now…" Having learned his lesson from before, the freak secured Jonas's other leg with another tentacle before getting their faces within inches of one another. "Where is my arrow?"

What was this freak on about? A healing stand? Is that what those apparitions were called? Stands? Well as long as he thought that Jonas had Mary's curtain of light, that could be a fantastic chance to take him by surprise!

"Have you tried looking the last place you left it?" Jonas joked. His limbs were squeezed much harder and he couldn't help but let out a small yelp of pain.

"I'm already far too late because of your shenanigans, _boy!_ Make this easier on yourself so we can be done with this." Jonas glanced to the nurse next to him. Though she was upside down and he wasn't, their hands were close enough to touch fingers. He locked his middle finger to hers to give her a sign. They would get out of this. Both of them.

He looked back to the freak, or rather behind the man. The nurse's station connected to four separate hallways, a number of patient rooms, and a stairwell that went both up and down. If he could get them there, the nurse could get away any direction. Then Jonas could hold off the freak. But how could he get them there?

Jonas blinked. As soon as he opened his eyes, he couldn't feel the crushing grip of tentacles. His body no longer fought against gravity, standing on solid ground. He, and the nurse, were suddenly standing behind the counter of the nurse's station.

"WHAT?!" The freak screamed at the top of his lungs, rattling the nearby windows. He twisted around to stare Jonas right in the eye, having already caught sight of him via the octopus. Only this looming danger kept Jonas from questioning how they had even gotten there to begin with.

"Get out of here!" Jonas urged the woman. She nodded, clearing the vomit from her mouth as she took off to the stairwell.

"So." The man's voice and attitude had evened out quite quickly. There was still a rage in his voice, but it was more tempered. "Your stand's ability is teleportation. That means you didn't heal this hospital. And _that_ means… Someone else was stabbed by my arrow."

He began a slow, menacing approach. His body lifted up by the tentacles, adding that extra sense of size. "That makes my job significantly more difficult. I already had such a burden of expectation you know. So who is it? Someone in this hospital I imagine. No, don't bother telling me. I'll just have to kill everyone to make sure I get it right, starting with you!"

The man lifted up his bow and drew back the string. Jonas knew enough that it was bad news and made sure to duck beneath the counter. Sure enough the wall behind him suddenly caved in from some invisible force.

"You can't keep running from me forever, boy! Now show me your stand! Unless you'd rather die without ever putting up a fight?" There was that word again. Stand. Well if the freak wanted to see it so badly, Jonas felt he should oblige.

Jonas rolled over the top of the counter, feeling the power welling up within him. All he had to do was release it! The stand emerged on his mental command, not just a pair of arms but the entire body! A metal feathered humanoid in all its glory with the head of a falcon. The young man's fighting spirit welled up and exploded outward, his stand releasing a powerful war cry.

"Go, Under Pressure!" Cried out the freak, moving backward to stay away from the enemy stand.

Jonas was excited to see the enemy's appar-stand, the enemy's stand, now that he didn't have blurred vision. What emerged was… not what he had expected. He remembered a mass of writhing tentacles in his blurred vision, but instead it was some manner of brass robotic thing vaguely resembling an octopus, hovering just above the floor. Cogs and gears ticked and whirred as a steam piston on its back moved up and down.

"You beat its arsch once, do it again!" Jonas commanded, pointing in a dramatic pose.

"LEBENLEBENLEBENLEBEN!" The stand cried out as it unleashed a barrage of punches faster than light… without moving more than two meters from Jonas. The blows weren't anywhere near close enough to hit the freak, or his stand.

"Looks like you haven't figured out the range of your stand yet!" The freak taunted. "Too bad you won't get a second chance!"

The man's stand, Under Pressure, lifted three metallic appendages and merely tapped the air in front of it. Instinctively Jonas's own stand put up its guard, crossing arms in front of it. Suddenly it was bowled over by three powerful invisible blows. Jonas felt each strike as though he had taken them himself, like a punch to the gut, one on the arms, and another in the shoulder. He had to kneel down from the pain, but recovered just as quickly. The same was the case for his stand.

"You're a bit more resilient than I thought." The man tapped his chin. "Very well then. I'll just have to pummel you with everything I've got! Under Pressure!"

Under Pressure placed all eight of its limbs down onto the floor, which immediately blew apart. Its owner kept himself from danger by adhering to the ceiling with his tentacles, but Jonas wasn't expecting the floor to suddenly give way. As he fell, and his stand fell with him, his mind raced. That man said he was capable of teleportation, and that had made sense given what had happened. So if he could teleport then he'd be able to save himself a nasty fall. He focused on the area directly in front of his opponent and willed himself there. In the blink of an eye both he and his stand had closed the distance, but the enemy was ready for him.

A blotch of black ink fired from the man's eyes, funneled through his body from the octopus he had fused with, splattering directly on Jonas's face. "Argh!" He began to fall again, from an even greater distance than before, yet something else surprised him. He could actually _see_ himself from an outside perspective. From right where his stand was. He could share its senses? Fantastisch! He sent mental commands to the creature and it reacted at the speed of his thoughts, first grabbing hold of him, then teleporting to the floor. He had his stand keep a watch while he wiped away the ink.

"I may have underestimated you," the freak said. Under Pressure began pumping its piston at a much greater pace. "You're a pretty worthy opponent for a man in a dress. If you had the opportunity to learn more about your stand then you might actually become a massive threat. But I'll at least grant you the honor of knowing your killer's name. I am Bowie."

Jonas chuckled, tugging on his hospital gown. "Jonas Johan Priester. And I look _damn_ good in this!"

"As far as last words go… They're not the worst I've heard. Now die to the power of my stand, Under Pressure!" The enemy stand touched roughly the same spot in the air with all eight robotic tentacles. Jonas could see the very air itself rippling as something altered it. A massive surface area of air was affected and shot down right at him. The other attacks had been completely invisible to this point and they could bust apart solid walls. He didn't want to know how much damage this one could do!

Timing it perfectly, Jonas had his stand teleport the two of them up above the incoming wave. They reappeared a good enough distance from Bowie himself, but right in front of his stand. This was it, the chance to pummel the thing into oblivion! A feathered arm shot out like a bullet, yet once again struck only air. Under Pressure was whisked away right out of the metallic avian's range, reeled away like a fish on a hook, and that hook was Bowie's tentacle. Furrowing his brow in frustration, Jonas had them teleported to the floor down below again.

As soon as he reappeared Jonas noticed that instead of one floor down, he was three. That big wave had completely blasted through two whole floors! And even worse, another was moving straight for him! Damn, he hadn't paid attention to what Under Pressure was doing after the missed attack. There wasn't enough time to move away, he had practically jumped right in the path of the attack himself! He felt the wave collide against his and his stand's body simultaneously, forcing them down onto the floor. It wasn't done though, it kept pushing forward, driving his body into the floor. Bones snapped, organs ruptured, he could feel blood squirting out of every orifice. The floor beneath him shattered and he fell down yet _another_ story. But through it all, he never lost consciousness. He never died.

No sooner had he collided with the floor below did Jonas feel his bones snapping back into place. His organs reinflated, everything that had been crushed reformed the way it was supposed to be. Once he opened his eyes, Jonas saw everything in a purple tint. Just in time, liebling.

Jonas stood back up, a hundred different leg fractures fusing together in the process. Nearby he could see Dr. Mary Jane running forward, lacking her normal makeup. "What the hell is going on here, Herr Priester?!"

"You remember that octopus man from my story?" He gestured up, and she looked.

"Oh hell. You never know what you're gonna wake up to in the on call room."

Bowie and his stand began to descend toward the duo, crawling down the destroyed floors with his tentacles. "Hahahaha, splendid! So you're the stand user that made the 'miracle.' Good. Then maybe you can tell me where my arrow is!"

Mary glanced to Jonas first, eyebrow raised with incredulity, then back to Bowie. "I'm afraid that information falls under doctor-patient confidentiality. Now get the hell out of my hospital."

Bowie frowned. "Then I've got a busy night ahead of me. But I'll enjoy all the different ways I can break your bodies." Under Pressure released a wave of attacks, each tentacle touching different points of the air one right after the other. The large scale attacks were done; he was relying on the invisible attacks again. Not wanting to take any chances, Jonas grabbed Mary's hand to teleport the both of them away, but they were each struck by one hit before reappearing down the hall.

"Wha-wha-what was that?" Mary asked, looking around to get her bearings. Their bruises and snapped bones had already healed. "Did we just move?"

"In a way," Jonas confirmed. "My stand can teleport."

"Oh, ok. That's what it looks like? Very nice. It's got like this falcon terminator vibe going on and I'm sorry did you say stand?" The adrenaline rush was really getting to her.

"Ja. Bowie says they're called stands, and they all seem to be different. Still figuring mine out, but he calls his 'Under Pressure.'" Jonas turned to ready himself for when Bowie descended through the ceiling hole. His stand took a nearby pair of surgical scissors.

As soon as Bowie emerged from the ceiling the stand hurled the scissors straight for Bowie, ignoring the stand altogether. As soon as the scissors touch the air they vanished from sight, immediately reappearing a couple feet from the left side of Bowie's face. In the same instant Jonas teleported to the opposite side of Bowie. The scissors sank deep into the man's skull, piercing his brain without a doubt.

"LEBENLEBENLEBENLEBENLEBEN!" Metal claws tore at Bowie's body with speed unparalleled. Entire chunks of meat and flesh torn clean off and tossed aside. In under three seconds Bowie had roughly a third of his body torn apart, including half his skull. The body fell to the floor.

"Heh." Jonas turned back to face the doctor, giving her a big thumbs up. "Fantastisch! URK!"

Under Pressure was still active and had just touched Jonas's midsection directly with a tentacle. Without traveling through the air, it struck him with far greater force. Enough force to blow out his insides, organs and intestines spraying across the room.

"JONAS!" Mary cried out.

"Heheheh, now that is interesting." Bowie rose up to his feet, bits of flesh growing back. His head had already been completely repaired, save for the surgical tool sticking from the side. He took hold of the scissors with one hand and yanked them out. In under a second there was no trace of any damage.

"It seems your stand heals everyone indiscriminately, even from fatal injuries. I admit, my own regeneration would have saved my life, but your stand is truly on another level! I'm sure my masters would love to make good use of you." Mary opened her mouth to argue, but couldn't get a word out before Bowie extended multiple tentacles to ensnare her.

A split second before he could grab her, Jonas appeared between them, still regenerating from the massive hole in his torso. His stand snatched each tentacle before Bowie even realized what had happened, and held them in place. Jonas couldn't help but laugh as the excitement built up.

"I've figured out your stand's ability. I might feel proud of myself since this is my first time experiencing such things, but it's in the name. Under Pressure? Bit on the nose, don't you think, Herr Bowie?" Bowie responded by having his stand send a number of attacks through the air, but the never reached their target. Jonas teleported not just himself, but Mary and Bowie as well. They appeared two rooms over, his stand still clenching the tentacles.

"You mentioned that stands have different ranges they can operate. Mine is, sadly, limited to my immediate personal space, but thankfully we can go anywhere we want. Yours has a bit more freedom, but it's nowhere near as fast. I wonder, will it keep coming for you no matter how far away I take us?" Two more flashes brought them to two more locations in very quick succession. First they appeared outside, albeit very briefly. Then all three of them had suddenly found themselves at the top of the hospital. Wind billowed through Jonas's patient gown, waving his hair about.

"Herr Bowie, you asked me to show you my stand. This is my stand! So long as I set my eyes on you, you cannot escape. This is the Prisoner of Your Eye!" The Prisoner swung over its shoulder in a mighty heave, flinging Bowie by the length of his tentacles straight into the rooftop. The sound of bones cracking was unmistakable.

"You were talking about all the ways you could break us," Mary stepped up, letting go of Jonas's hand. "By using the power of my own stand. 'Do no harm.' That's just part of my Hippocratic Oath, and I intend to live up to that. No matter what horrible injury Herr Priester inflicts on you, I'll make sure you get better. That's my creed as a doctor!"

The Prisoner yanked back on the tentacles, drawing Bowie towards it with fantastic speed. "LEBEN!" It slammed a clawed fist straight into the monster's face. The force of the impact shot him straight back while the Prisoner kept ahold of the tentacles with its other arm. Bowie bungied back, only to get another fist in the face. This motion repeated another twelve times.

"You'll experience the pain in a never ending cycle as punishment for the deaths you've caused on my watch. Falling infinitely through a Hell of your own making, that is the power of my stand! Free Fallin'!" Mary Jane pointed up to the sky with her right hand, then dragged her finger downward as though to simulate falling.

"NO!" Bowie cried out. Flying backward from his latest face punch, he became separated from the octopus fused with his body. He tumbled backward, coming to a stop right on the edge of the building. "We'll see who goes to Hell yet! Now let's find out if your stand stays active if I _eviscerate_ you, doctor!"

Suddenly the floor beneath their feet, the rooftop of the hospital, violently exploded upward. Jonas and Mary were tossed up and punished in a rain of shrapnel, the two separated by the force. Rising up from the damage was none other than Under Pressure. It launched three more pressurized air bullets directly for Mary, all aimed directly for her head, and each one striking true. The first cracked her cranium. The second snapped her vertebrae. The third tore her head from the neck, leaving a jagged wound in its place.

"Nein! Mary!" Jonas reoriented himself in the air and reappeared along the rooftop ledge, just behind the large hole. He could only stare in horrified disgust as Mary Jane, head and body, tumbled over the side to fall five stories onto solid pavement. As she disappeared from sight, so too did the purple field of light go with her, receding into its user's body. Jonas trembled, if only for a second, then clenched his fist as his resolve strengthened.

"You shouldn't have done that," he said in a low, quiet voice. It was unlikely Bowie could have heard him. It didn't matter. It wasn't for Bowie's benefit. He turned round to face his doctor's killer. He came face to face with the man named Bowie, as well as his stand.

"WRY!" Bowie screeched. Under Pressure launched more pressurized air bullets, but its target was no longer there. Jonas and Prisoner of Your Eye had moved directly below the enemy stand. Before Bowie realized what was going on, Prisoner snatched up Under Pressure by a few dangling tentacles, then they were gone again. Bowie spun around in a frenzy to find his enemy, only to see his own stand collide with his face. Jonas had it swung like a flail right into its own user.

"You can't keep up. Mary kept you alive. Now I'm gonna beat the scheisse out of you until there's _nothing left!_ " He and his stand vanished, reappearing behind Bowie. The Prisoner kicked his opponent straight up, teleported just above him and hammer fisted Bowie back down. Everything happened so fast that Bowie could barely even register it was happening, much less react to it!

Just before Bowie collided with the floor, once again he was intercepted by this new hated enemy. Jonas thumbed his nose as his stand prepared for the flurry of blows to come. "So long, schlappschwanz."

"LEBENLEBENLEBENLEBENLEBENLEBENLEBENLEBENLEBENLEBENLEBENLEBENLEBENLEBENLEBENLEBENLEBENLEBENLEBENLEBENLEBENLEBENLEBENLEBENLEBENLEBENLEBENLEBENLEBENLEBENLEBENLEBENLEBENLEBENLEBENLEBENLEBENLEBENLEBENLEBENLEBENLEBENLEBENLEBENLEBENLEBENLEBENLEBENLEBENLEBENLEBENLEBENLEBENLEBENLEBENLEBENLEBENLEBENLEBENLEBENLEBENLEBENLEBEN!"

The pummeling was fierce, without mercy, and hit Bowie with the speed of a rainstorm. He refused to let up for even a single solitary second, fully committed to his promise. He slammed Bowie through multiple walls and the injuries suffered rendered Under Pressure completely useless. At the height of his rapid fire punches, Prisoner tossed Bowie straight down the building. The same moment he smashed into the solid pavement, a purple light expanded over the area. Jonas had every intention of continuing his ruthless assault, but was taken aback by the sudden reappearance of Free Fallin'.

"Mary?!" Jonas wasted no time teleporting down to the ground.

"Herr Priester!" Jonas immediately spotted Mary waving at him. They ran toward one another and embraced in a hug.

"I'm glad to see you alive, liebling!"

"I keep telling you, don't get so famili-Ugh, nevermind. After what we've been through, it's the least of my problems." She broke off the embrace, then jaunted over to the human shaped crater nearby. With Jonas by her side, they observed Bowie on his back, two feet underground, but completely healthy.

"Uuuuugh. I'm done." he muttered, resigned to his fate. "I can't keep up and my powers are too limited to compete with yours. You have… The superior stand."

* * *

 _Under Pressure_

User: Bowie

Power - C  
Speed - C  
Range - D  
Durability - C  
Precision - E  
Potential - A


	4. Chapter 3: King of Fools

**Cry Wolf Chapter 3: King of Fools**

"The superior stand?" Jonas chuckled, standing as tall as he could make himself. "Maybe, but only because I am the superior man."

"I see that now," Bowie admitted, beginning to rise steadily from his crater. "A master of his own fate is inherently superior to a lowly slav-"

"LEBEN!" The Prisoner of Your Eye acted on a hair trigger to Bowie standing up, launching from its user to slam Bowie's head back down into the hole.

"AGH! What the fuck was that for?!" The bleeding around the back of his head immediately ceased, but Jonas's stand didn't let go of him.

Mary jumped back in surprise, biting her lip. "Herr Priester, he's already surrendered. Stop the needless violence!"

"You think I was born yesterday, armleuchter?" Jonas started off, his stand lifting Bowie from the hole by his head. Jonas gestured to Bowie's fingers, which had elongated to very sharp points. "You know what they say, you can't con a conman, and I saw through that white flag no problem. I don't know how, but you can manipulate your body, can't you? It's how you merged with an octopus and used its body like an extension of yours. That's pretty interesting, because it doesn't seem to be linked to your stand at all. Your stand creates pressure in whatever it touches, so it crushes objects or pushes the air like bullets. How are you doing that?"

Unable to see thanks to the Prisoner's grip over his head, Bowie didn't have a great way to launch the sneak attack he had been scheming. If he took out Jonas, then he'd just heal and Bowie would get his ass thrashed again. If he took out Mary, then the Prisoner would crush his head. He thought about his options. Under Pressure? No, his own stand wasn't fast enough to react in the situation and Jonas would take action at the first sight that Bowie was remanifesting his stand. He grit his teeth and resigned to his loss. For real, this time. There was no way out of it.

"You've got me by the balls kid, that's for sure. Still, I won't give you anything. If I betrayed my masters, that alone would be far worse than anything you could do to me." Damn him. That infuriating kid could at least show his face while going through this interrogation, couldn't he? Bowie disliked being blind.

"So you have masters. Plural. That's a good start." Jonas smiled a big smugly and had his stand squeeze a bit on Bowie's skull.

"Owowowowow! Stop that!" Bowie spat, his anger rising again.

"I'm inclined to agree, Herr Priester," Mary cut in. "The hospital has cameras, and our eyewitness testimony will put him away for life. There's no need for torture."

Bowie couldn't help but laugh, first as a small chuckle but quickly growing into a full belly laugh. It kept going until another squeeze of his skull signalled him to stop, but when he spoke there was still the undertone of condescending joy. "Please, your naivety is hilarious! Only stand users can see a stand! And who would believe what you have to say anyway? Your security cameras, your CCTV connections? Your word? They mean nothing! And even if you could get me through a trial and imprisoned, which is improbable to the point of impossibility, there's no facility that can hold a stand user!"

Mary winced at the harsh truths, but Jonas remained stoic through it all. "Thank you for pointing out that not even recording equipment can see stands. I was a bit iffy on the subject when I remembered that nobody but myself and Mary could see Free Fallin'. But you're forgetting-" he paused a moment to thumb his nose. "You're not invisible, and that freaky octopus thing you were doing isn't either! I'll proudly keep you in check and provide proof to the world about stands! They won't be able to deny the possibility when they see my Prisoner of Your Eye's ability to teleport me and other objects!"

"Pfffff-hahaha!" This time Jonas didn't squeeze Bowie's skull, as the man continued without even needing the prompt. "How little you know is so sad. It'd never even get to that point. To hide the truth, my masters would stop at nothing. You'd never even get me to court."

Jonas smiled. This guy was a lot more forthcoming than he thought he was. Truthfully he didn't need to turn in Bowie and at the end of the day he had no intention of doing so. Everything was just a talking point that would let him draw more out of his enemy. So he had multiple masters, and he was confident that their influence would be enough to keep him from ever getting to a trial. That alone gave Jonas something to work off.

"Seems to me they'd want to cut their losses," Jonas said, hoping to poke at the pride of his captive. "If you're as loyal as you claim, then they have nothing to worry about. On the other hand, if you're too much of a liability…"

He let that hang in the air. Put the suggestion out there, but be vague enough that the mark has to use their imagination. Then when they come to the natural conclusion, it feels like they thought of it themselves and the idea becomes much more of a powerful motivator. Basic manipulation 101. Unfortunately Jonas never got to hear where exactly that line of thinking would take his enemy, for Bowie began to scream in horrific pain.

"AAAAARGH! AAAAAAAGH!" His feet began turning to dust before their very eyes! And it was spreading fast as dawn's light rose upward. "WHERE'S FREE FALLIN'?! WHERE'S FREE FALLIN'?!"

Jonas pulled back his stand in surprise, which released Bowie by reflex. For the first time Bowie could open his eyes and see that he had completely lost track of time, but more than that the doctor had recalled her stand some time ago already. If only he had known! His sneak attack! But it wasn't meant to be. Gravity took hold and he dropped down, more and more of his body exposed to the rising dawn's light. More and more of his body burst into dust instantly.

"Free Fallin'!" Mary cried out, summoning forth her stand. It expanded outward several hundred meters in only a few scant seconds, but wasn't quick enough. By the time it enveloped Bowie, there was nothing of Bowie left to heal. All he was now was a pile of dust pooled at the bottom of a small crater in the pavement.

Jonas and Mary stared blankly, uncomfortably in an awkward silence. The experience had been sobering for the both of them, as for the first time they became aware of the world around them. Sirens blared from multiple directions as hospital patients were being escorted from the damaged building. Emergency responders had been on site for several minutes at this point. Mary turned back to see a police officer approaching them. She tapped on Jonas's shoulder to get his attention, and the two met the officer halfway.

"Are you two ok?" he asked in the most standard protocol esque voice one could imagine, completely divorced from any sort of emotional investment.

'Ja," Jonas answered.

"Yes we are," Mary confirmed.

"Good," responded the officer, directing them toward the fleet of response vehicles nearby. "Then finish escorting this patient. We've still got a lot of people to get out of here."

He didn't even bother making sure that the two did as he said before moving on toward the hospital entrance. All business, the man was fleet of foot. Jonas looked to Mary. Mary looked back to Jonas. Their eyes held one another for a second, then the tension became too much. They both burst out into heavy laughter. Nervous laughter. Thank-god-I'm-alive laughter. The two had to support one another or risk falling over.

The good spirits died down after a time. By then the duo had slumped over one another on the ground. They each took a few deep breaths, wiped the tears from their eyes, and stood up. Mary was the first to speak, and fell back into her professional body language.

"I should be participating in the evacuation of the patients. And keep my stand active in case any rubble or debris poses a danger." She took her first step toward the building, Free Fallin's tremendous radius moving in time to keep her centered. After her second step she turned back to face Jonas with a look that said, "You coming or what?"

Jonas nodded, brushing off his hospital gown. "I think I'll get dressed first, then I can help get people out of there. Twenty Euros says I can escort more than anybody else."

Mary shook her head and laughed. Rather than answer, she kept moving toward the building. Jonas turned to look up at a hole in the exterior wall, evidence of the life or death struggle they'd just had. Prisoner of Your Eye manifested directly behind him, its clawed hands taking hold of his shoulders. An instant later the both of them were gone, now perched up in that very room.

* * *

10:32 a.m., a man steps off his plane at Berlin Tegel Airport. As large and imposing as a brick wall, this 6'3" goliath rubbed the sleep from his dark brown eyes. The light of the airport windows danced along his caramel brown skin, as his blonde ponytail swayed with each sleep-deprived step he took. While his stature and build were certainly threatening enough, his demeanor and manner of dress meant that even the most shy of small children wouldn't think twice about approaching him. His white long sleeve shirt was covered by a blue argyle sweater vest. In his jet-lagged state he narrowly avoided kicking a child's toy with his long legs, with their tan slacks and black dress shoes.

"Excuse me, sir?"

"Hm?" The large man turned in place to see a young woman approaching him, no older than twenty-five.

"This fell out of your backpack." She held up a white baseball cap by the bill, offering it to him.

"Why thank you, miss," he replied, his accent distinctly South African. With a large hand he took the cap, then placed it on his head. "I really should be wearing this, but the plane was small enough as it was, so I set it on top of my backpack. I guess I'm more out of it than I thought."

"You're welcome," she replied, cheery eyed. "It looks good on you."

With a final adjustment of his baseball cap, and a wave goodbye, the man turned to leave as the young woman frowned in disappointment. His first stop was to the restroom. Upon doing his business, the large man began washing his hands at the sink. He inspected his appearance in the mirror as the water ran over his digits. The bags beneath his eyes were to be expected, as was the bedraggled shirt sleeves thanks to that cramped plane seat. Even so, his baseball cap remained the picture of perfection, just as it should be. He took great pride in his work, and the iconic wheel on that hat symbolized his dedication to that work.

To jolt his mind awake he threw some cold water up onto his face. After shaking off the excess drips he stared right into the mirror. "Alright Marcus, you can do it. This is your first solo operation. Don't let the Speedwagon Foundation down."

* * *

1:15 p.m., many hours have passed since the battle at the hospital. Exhausted, yet still riding on the adrenaline high, Jonas Johan Priester and Doctor Mary Jane had taken it upon themselves to unwind at the cafeteria of the new hospital that the patients had been escorted to. Mary had treated the younger man to lunch, and so they enjoyed one another's company, relating to each other after the incident that had just unfolded.

"It was pretty hilarious the way you smacked him back and forth like a paddle ball," Mary joked, taking a bite of mashed potatoes. "Your stand is pretty terrifying."

"Isn't it unbecoming of a doctor to express joy at someone's pain? Hahahaha." Jonas took a sip of his orange juice, licking the inside of his lips to get every bit of citrusy goodness. Mary rolled her eyes playfully.

"No matter what you did, he wasn't going to be any worse for wear. I upholded my oath, but that doesn't mean I don't see the need for justice, and violence has a place in that justice. I can admire it… From a distance."

"Ja, I can understand that," he nodded. "But speaking of terrifying stands, yours is on a whole other level! He tore your head off, but you still didn't die! Free Fallin' just went back into you and fixed you up good as new, ja?"

Mary frowned, and bit her lip. "Y-yes… But the thing is, Herr Priester-"

"Stop being so formal," he chided. "I think we've gotten past that point, ja?"

"Sure, sure. Heh. Well, the thing is, yes I completely regenerated after losing my head… But I was conscious through the whole thing, and I felt every excruciating second of it. It seems that my stand works by forcing you to stay alive, no matter what, while it repairs the body."

She was clearly unnerved, her gaze drifting off to the side. Jonas leaned back in his seat and sighed inwardly. "Ja, it was the same when my body was crushed. Still, I can't imagine how it feels to be completely aware when losing your head…"

Mary sighed, but it was a very low and subtle sigh. When she spoke, she remained unfocused, looking everywhere but at Jonas. "I rolled around… And saw my own body. But then I could see my body growing bone and flesh from the neck wound. It grew a new skull… And suddenly I was looking through a different pair of eyes."

She finally shifted her vision back to focus in on Jonas's face. He was listening intently, while absent-mindedly stuffing steamed carrots into his mouth. "It makes me worry about how exactly this power works, you know? The head that I _used_ to be, it didn't grow a body, but the body grew a new head."

"Sounds like your stand focused its repairing on where it'd take the least amount of work," Jonas added. Still, he was curious as to where Mary was taking this.

"Yes, I agree," she began, trailing off slightly before continuing. "But what if… What if it works like a copy? Like my body grew a new head, complete with brain to control it, but the original head that was left behind was still alive? What if my mind didn't move, but it was _copied?_ "

Jonas shook his head, having abandoned any attention he had on his meal. "You can't think like that."

"But it's possible!" she quickly cut in. "Until I know for sure, I don't really know at all, right? That's why I grabbed it. It's in a sterilized bag in my backpack."

"I'm sorry, you did _what_ now?" Jonas cocked his head in utter disbelief. To confirm, Mary leaned her slightly opened backpack forward so he could see inside. Sure enough there was a plastic bag, sealed up, within which he could see a bloodied mass of hair.

"I need to run some tests, particularly neural stimulation, and gauge the results. If it's still alive, I'll see some reaction to pain and other forms of stimuli." Mary returned the backpack to the floor by her feet.

Jonas rubbed his eyes. He had dealt with a lot of crazy in his life, especially in the last forty-eight hours, yet somehow this seemed to blow it all out of the water. This would be the straw to break the camel's back. "Ok… Ok, well I guess it's better than letting your head just sit there in public where anybody could find it. If nothing else you… Cleaned up a mess."

"Excuse me," the two were suddenly interrupted by a rather polite sounding, deep voice. Each glanced to the side of the table to see a large black man wearing an argyle sweater vest and a baseball cap with the mark of the Speedwagon Foundation on it. He looked very professional, but gave the appearance of someone who spent too much time in his own head.

"I apologize for the interruption, but I'm looking for surviving staff members of the Berlin Central Hospital attack early this morning, and was informed that I could find some here. Would you mind pointing me in the right direction?" His voice sounded English-no, South African, definitely South African.

"Sure, I'm a surgical resident from Central Berlin," Mary admitted. She slid an open chair back for the man using her foot beneath the table. "What can I do for you?"

The man thanked her, then took a seat, setting his own backpack down next to hers. "My name is Marcus Resto," he began, zeroing in his focus on Mary while completely ignoring Jonas. "And as you can see, I'm with the Speedwagon Foundation."

Jonas had begun eating again. "What's the Speedwagon Foundation?" he asked in between bites.

"You don't know the Speedwagon Foundation?" Mary shot back incredulously, emphatically waving her left hand.

Jonas shrugged. "Growing up a street punk means some things fall through the cracks."

"Hahahaha, it is no problem!" Marcus laughed. "The Speedwagon Foundation is an international organization dedicated to environmental conservation and medical research. Any doctor is sure to have studied at least one medical journal published by our staff at some point, but I can see how you'd have had no reason to know who we are."

"Once I finish my residency, I'm actually looking to apply to the Speedwagon Foundation," Mary added, having not touched her plate of food for several minutes now. "They get to travel all over the world and experience a great many exciting things in their efforts to help people."

While the doctor spoke, Marcus pulled out a number of photographs from his vest pocket. He laid them down onto the table for all to see, but they weren't anything new. Each picture was one of the strange disasters plaguing the country in recent months. Entire buildings simply separated by sections, plagues of insects, politicians and country leaders suddenly losing their minds and attacking the public, plus half a dozen more photos. One however was more familiar to them than the rest: the destruction at Berlin Central.

"I've been sent by the Foundation to investigate these strange happenings," he said with a straight face. "Since you were there, Doctor-" he took a second to glance at her nametag. "-Jane, I was hoping that you would be able to describe to me the events in question. What caused this level of destruction, and the 'miracle' that swept across the hospital, curing everyone of their ailments."

Mary and Jonas took a second to make eye contact, each of them gauging how to respond. Would he believe them if they gave the truth? Was it worth doing so? Jonas was thinking of another angle to approach the situation while Mary was more open to trusting him, and they both knew it. Out of respect, Jonas mentally backed off to allow Mary to handle it however she wanted.

"Yes, I was present for both," she began. "Jonas and I witnessed a man kill those people and damage the building so thoroughly. As for the miracle? Your guess is as good as mine."

The lie came easily. Perhaps not expertly, but easily. Thoughts of how she might be abused or experimented on if her new abilities were discovered colored her perception of the situation.

"I see," Marcus replied, giving no indication that he noticed any falsehood. "And you sir?"

He turned to Jonas, who was choking down the last of his pudding. "Not much to tell, really. He killed a bunch of people, and I think he had some explosives or something? I couldn't tell you, but it had to be explosives."

"Hmm…" Marcus mused to himself. "I see. Well then, since I still have you here, would you mind looking at one last photograph for me?"

Once they nodded in affirmation, Marcus produced one last picture. Recognition set in instantly. The long brass-colored shaft, the ornate pointed head, there was no denying it. It was a photograph of the arrow Jonas had stolen from the now deceased Bowie.

"You know it?" Marcus asked Mary with excitement.

"Um, no, I'm sorry, what now?"

"Your expression. It was definitely one of recognition. What about you, sir?" he turned to Jonas. Far more practiced with deception, he had no trouble concealing his lie, and shook his head to Marcus. The Speedwagon representative turned back to Mary. "How have you seen this arrow?"

"I apologize, you are mistaken," she lied again. "I've had four hours of sleep in the last two days and I've been through a lot of excitement. I can't even keep track of my own thoughts anymore."

"I see." That seemed to be something of a quirk of his, acknowledging everything with those two words. "In that case, I have just one more question for the both of you."

"Shoot," Jonas remarked off-handedly.

Marcus took a deep breath, then exhaled. As he did so, a mass of swirling colorful dust emerged from his breath. A mixture of blues, purples, reds, oranges, and every other color imaginable permeated the air immediately around the man, enveloping him like an aura. It moved around as a gas, rippling in every direction but remained condensed around his body, like a gravitational pull. Mary jerked back, while Jonas reacted by summoning his stand with its guard up.

"Ah, that answers that, then." Marcus adjusted his cap, the bill cloaking his eyes in shadow. "You do see. You are stand users."

"Explain yourself," Jonas commanded. "Right now."

"Sir, I have no need to explain myself. It is the two of you that need to provide an explanation. Everything you've told me up until now has been a lie, while I have been entirely upfront. I don't appreciate being lied to." The swirling mass of dust seemed to pool a bit closer to Jonas, as if anticipating an attack from him.

"Settle down!" Mary decreed, slamming her hands on the table. A few other cafeteria diners looked over to see what was the cause of the commotion, but kept going about their business once they saw nothing interesting.

"I don't want to see this turn into a fight, but if it does, we're not going to do anything where other people can get hurt. Even if I heal them, it's better they never go through the experience." Her gaze was like steel. Jonas nodded, his stand retreating back into his body. Marcus did not demanifest his own stand, however.

Instead Marcus stood up, maintaining the shroud of dust, and began to head toward the door. After a few steps he halted, then turned back to face the two at the table. "Are you coming? Either you are my enemies and will need to take me out, or you accidentally had a run in with that arrow and are certain to have questions. Either way, we need to go someplace isolated."

Mary looked to Jonas for confirmation, but he didn't meet her gaze. Instinctively he was already up on his feet and following behind Marcus. Mary took a deep breath herself, grabbed her backpack, then followed as well.

The three proceeded out of the hospital together, Marcus leading the way with Mary and Jonas right behind. Next to two such tall figures, Jonas looked to be even smaller than usual. This did not intimidate him in the slightest. He followed faithfully until they arrived at a nearby parking lot. Though it had a number of cars, it was all day parking and so there weren't any other people coming and going. At least for the time being.

"Alright, this is as isolated as we're gonna get," Jonas half-shouted, rooting himself to the ground. Once more his Prisoner of Your Eye emerged, hanging half a meter from his body.

"I'm inclined to agree," Marcus replied, turning back around to face the duo. "So what will it be? Will you do battle with my stand, King of Fools? Or will you tell me the truth?"

"I need a gesture of goodwill first," Jonas shot back. "Extend an olive branch, so to speak. Why are you looking for that arrow? What is it to you?"

Mary wasn't sure how to intervene, or what to add to the immediate situation. They were away from other people, so that was good enough for now.

"I see… If you don't know, _really_ don't know, then you aren't the ones that took it." Marcus tipped his baseball cap up, revealing his eyes once again. In the same instant his stand, King of Fools, retracted back into his body.

"That's glorious news!" he shouted cheerily, a large dumb smile plastered across his face. Jonas practically tripped over his own feet at the sudden change in demeanor.

"What do you mean 'glorious news?!'"

Mary chuckled, happy that the tension had been diffused.

"It's simple. You don't know why I'm looking for the arrow, so you aren't the ones who stole it from the Speedwagon Foundation, so I don't have to beat you into the pavement to get it back! Hahahahahaha!" The large man leaned back from the force of his laughter, but recomposed himself rather quickly. "I'm guessing you got your stands when that arrow pierced your skin, am I right?"

Mary and Jonas hesitantly nodded.

"I knew it. Well that arrow was stolen from the vaults of the Speedwagon Foundation ten years ago. It was recovered in a small Japanese town back in the nineties and we've been researching the properties of it and its brothers. Unfortunately that arrow was stolen out from under us. For the longest time we had no idea where to begin the search, but then crazy, impossible things began happening in Germany…"

"So you assumed the arrow had been used to make a number of stand users that started running amok in the Fatherland," Jonas finished for him.

"You are correct," Marcus affirmed. "I've come to find and retrieve the arrow, and put a stop to the activities of those who are abusing its power."

"Huh," Mary said, taking a couple steps forward. "It's odd they would only send you. They must have tremendous faith in your abilities, and your stand."

"Well, you see," Marcus scratched his forehead nervously. "It's a little embarrassing, but… I'm the only stand user currently in the Speedwagon Foundation."

"What? Seriously?" Mary was taken aback, while Jonas quietly absorbed the information.

"It's true; those arrows are dangerous. If you don't possess the potential for a stand, then they kill you. Not many people are willing to take the risk, and even I was only allowed to be pierced by it in order to participate in studies and experimentation. But sadly, only a stand can defeat a stand, so here I am all by myself."

He gesticulated upward in an exaggerated shrug. "But my stand is quite fearsome. As long as I approach this assignment with intelligence and caution, I should be fine."

Jonas took a single step forward, his stand crossing its arms next to him. "Gotcha. Then count me in." He flashed a grin.

"Me too," Mary interjected. "I can't stand by and let harm come to the people."

Marcus mused with a half smile, thinking it over. After a minute he said, "Alright. I could use the backup. However," he lifted up a finger as though to lecture them. "This is life or death against unknown enemies that can be capable of literally anything. You never know what a stand can do until you see it for yourself. Some can even break the fabric of space and time itself! Therefore, I need to hear you accept the consequences, and I'll need to know that you can hold your own in battle. Understood?"

"I understand that anything can happen," Jonas answered. "And that I am highly skilled and capable."

Mary nodded in agreement. "I understand as well."

"Excellent!" Marcus cheered. "Now we'll need to get a feel for one another's abilities. Spar me, so that I'll know what I'm working with."

The Speedwagon agent took a fighting stance, one that Jonas recognized as Krav Maga. Once again he was glowing in a vortex of colors swirling all around him. Jonas gave Mary a thumbs up. She nodded and a second later the entire area was blanketed beneath the curtain of light that was her stand.

"What the?!" Marcus called out, taking action. A portion of his dust aura broke off from the rest to attack the incoming wave, but it simply passed through the light harmlessly. Once he was completely enveloped, Marcus pat himself down just to make sure everything was as it should be. "What manner of stand is this?"

"I call it Free Fallin'," Mary answered, leaning up against a car. "As far as I can tell, it's no good in a fight at all, but that's not my style anyway. It's the source of the hospital 'miracle.' Like some kind of… Immortality field. As long as you're in it, your body refuses to die, and always repairs itself to peak condition."

"GAAAAH!" Marcus suddenly cried out in horrible pain. His leg bulged out along the tibia, through his pants. A second later a titanium rod burst out from the skin, a number of screws coming with it. No more than two seconds later, the wound was completely gone. Marcus was breathing heavily, his leg still tingled from the pain.

"Oh," Mary covered her mouth slightly. "I had no idea you had a surgical plate, or I'd have prefaced this with, 'you're about to hurt like shit.'"

The large man's pain didn't last though. Wide eyed, he picked up what had been in his body, correcting his bone. Then he began to laugh. "Heh. Haha. Hahahahaha. Oh, this is phenomenal! I've had this in my leg since my football injury! Six years of painkillers, and you just ended it! Haha! Fighter or no fighter, you're fantastic! Welcome aboard!"

Mary waved with two fingers on her left hand to show her acknowledgment. He turned back to address Jonas. "Now for you-huh?" Jonas was completely gone.

"Right here." Marcus spun around to come face to face with the young man. How did he get there that fast?

"Definitely impressive," Marcus nodded. "But you'll need to show me how skilled you are in stand combat. Since the good doctor's stand means that we'll be perfectly fine, I suggest there's no holding back. Hit me with your best shot!"

Jonas shrugged. "No arguments here. Prepare for a lot of pain." He took a combat ready stance and thumbed his nose at Marcus. Using its trademark lightning speed, the Prisoner thrust a fist right for the Speedwagon man.

"LEBEN!"

Marcus was far too slow to react to the insane movements of Jonas's stand, but he proved that he didn't have to. There was nowhere that metallic fist could connect to him without first passing through the dust cloud that was his stand. The King of Fools reacted on its own, pooling near the point of impact, and as soon as they made contact the humanoid bird, and Jonas, recoiled back in pain.

"Gah! My hand is burning!" He took a second to observe the wound before Free Fallin' had him healed up. It was less than a second, but the majority of his flesh had been burned off the bone. Suddenly he felt another sharp sensation of pain, this one in his gut. A thin hole opened up in his belly, searing with heat and pain. No blood came out as the wound self-cauterized.

"Pay attention to your opponent," Marcus chided, pulling his baseball cap down over his eyes. His stand no longer shrouded around his body like an aura, but had shaped itself into a long wispy spear, which had impaled Jonas's stand. "I supposed maybe you're not good enough to help me."

The King of Fools retracted from its target, swirling around its user once again. The Prisoner of Your Eye, and Jonas, stumbled back in terrible pain. A second later and the pain was gone. He breathed out deeply, shaking his head. "I see… Apologies, Herr Resto. When you said there'd be no holding back, I thought of it in the fake way that friends usually say when competing, but I can tell now you were serious. This is trial by fire."

In an instant he appeared less than two feet from Marcus's face. "Let me show you the true power of my stand!" Once again the avian stand thrust a fist straight for Marcus's face. The disinterest of the man had changed to excitement as his dust cloud pooled up where he was about to be struck. Then in that instant Jonas and his stand vanished. They reappeared behind Marcus, slamming into the large man's now relatively unprotected back.

"URK!" the wind was knocked out of him as he was tossed forward with the force of a speeding truck. His King of Fools reoriented around him before he slammed into a nearby car, pushing back against him and stopping his momentum. As soon as he regained his footing Jonas vanished again. The young man appeared in mid air, his stand spinning a kick toward Marcus's head. Again the dust cloud instinctively pooled up to protect against the blow, only from his opponent to completely change location. This time Jonas appeared along the ground, and the kick struck Marcus in the ankles, breaking them and sending him tumbling on his ass. "UGH!"

"Good enough for you?" Jonas queried, standing firm in front of his sparring opponent. The Prisoner folded its arms across its chest.

"Certainly impressive," Marcus admitted, standing up. "So your stand's ability isn't just incredible speed, but teleportation. Fascinating. We can figure out how it works if you impress me further, but I doubt you'll be able to hit me even one more attack."

"I'll hit you with a thousand more before the day ends!" Jonas decreed. Mary could only roll her eyes at the display of competitive male dominance she was forced to endure.

Jonas charged forward, his stand ready to attack. A straight right punch for Marcus's gut was thrown, but again they teleported at the last second, this time appearing in the air perpendicular to the target, the punch now heading for the top of Marcus's head. However unlike last time the dust cloud didn't pool up where it perceived the original attack would hit. It stayed evenly distributed around its user, and just before Jonas landed his strike, the cloud of dust lit up with a burning white hot intensity!

"My eyes!" Jonas called off his attack to block his vision. Mary had to protect herself from the intense light as well. Marcus smiled as his opponent hit the ground, blind. "What is this stand?!"

"The enemy will feel no need to tell you about their abilities! It's inconvenient that your stand's power is so easy to figure out, so you will need to be able to adapt and understand on the fly!" King of Fools pooled up around Marcus's hand, swirling and condensing portions into a hard object. Jonas could barely open his eyes when he saw a flaming sphere heading straight for him.

"LEBEN!" The Prisoner punched the flaming sphere head on, knocking it off course and high up into the air. Jonas felt his knuckles scalding and burnt.

"Was that a _meteor?!"_ he exclaimed, able to stand fully now.

"That was a meteor _ite_ ," Marcus answered. "Common misconception. Meteors are the flash of light produced when a meteorite enters the atmosphere."

"Oh," Jonas shot back sarcastically. "Silly me. Of course."

Marcus gave another smile, then hurled a second meteorite from his stand. No longer suffering from blindness, Jonas was able to better react to the danger. He and his stand teleported off to the side, allowing the projectile to smash into a parked car. Marcus grit his teeth nervously, clearly feeling more than a little guilt at the collateral damage.

"LEBENLEBENLEBENLEBENLEBENLEBENLEBENLEBEN!" Marcus was brought back to the fight by the battle cry of his opponent. Still a good few meters out of range, he had to question just what Jonas thought he was doing by smashing up the pavement. He didn't have to wait long to find out.

The Prisoner grabbed a large armful of pavement debris and in a single powerful motion hurled it all at once in a large grapeshot attack, but that wasn't all. Rather than letting a big wave of rocks pelt Marcus from one side, it teleported each piece just as they left its hands. The big man found himself surrounded on all side by stones thrown with the force of a bullet.

"Almost got me." The pavement rocks were stopped just before making contact with their target. Each one of them had been pierced by a thin strand of dust, condensed to a sharp powerful point. The aura of dust had perfectly blocked the attack, one point for one rock. No more, no less. A second later he dropped them in a large pile around his feet, and the King of Fools receded back into his body.

"Well done." He clapped, casually strolling forward. "Well done indeed. You almost had me on that one."

"I disagree," Jonas answered, his own stand receding. "If you hadn't dropped your fighting intent, I would've thrashed you."

"How do you figure?" Marcus asked, tilting his head.

"I'm perceptive. Your stand has a limited amount of dust," Jonas pointed out. "And when you created those meteorites, the total amount of dust in your stand decreased. You stopped that attack, but it took every bit of remaining dust your stand had. I was one teleport-fist from caving in your face."

Marcus stared at the young man stone faced for a good five seconds, then began laughing. "Yes, you are right! Hahahahaha! You would have gotten me good! Hahahahaha! So… Did you figure out my stand's ability, then?"

"Ja. Swirling dust? All those colors? The bright light and the meteorites? Your stand is a nebula. It manipulates stardust."

"Splendid observations!" Marcus clapped him on the shoulder. "You got it in one, mr…?"

"JoJo," Mary interrupted with a mischievous grin. "You can call him JoJo."

"Mr. JoJo!" Marcus smiled, then wandered over to the car he had accidentally destroyed. While he took a moment to leave a note with his contact information and insurance provider, Jonas shot a dirty look back to Mary.

"JoJo?" he admonished.

"You said it yourself, we're too familiar now for 'Herr Priester.' If you're gonna keep calling me 'liebling' then I think it's fair." She stuck her tongue out playfully.

Jonas was about to protest, but found himself cut off yet again. "Mr. JoJo!" He felt Marcus's large gorilla hands manhandling him by the shoulder.

"Gah! What's going on here?!" he asked, feeling the weight of the much larger man.

"I just noticed, Mr. JoJo. This part of your collar, I must have burned it off in our little spat." He pressed a finger against Jonas's neck.

"So you can buy me a new one, what's your deal?" Jonas shrugged the man off.

"This birthmark, it's shaped like a star!"

"And?" the younger man shrugged. "Ja, it's shaped like a star. Fun novelty. Had it my whole life, as you do with birthmarks."

"I had no idea you were a Joestar!"

"... A what now?"

* * *

 _King of Fools_

User: Marcus Resto

Power - A

Speed - E

Range - D

Durability - E

Precision - A

Potential - D


	5. Chapter 4: Kerosene

**Cry Wolf Chapter 4: Kerosene**

"A Joestar!" Marcus exclaimed. "A long family line that the Speedwagon Foundation has strong connections with! You mean you don't know?"

"Oooooh, you mean _those_ Joestars!" Jonas shot back with feigned recognition. "You know, now that you mention it, no I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about."

Marcus bit his lip in frustration, unappreciative of Jonas's mocking. Mary spoke next, tapping her chin. "I believe I read something about the Joestar family in the various Speedwagon journals and newsletters I subscribe to. Isn't there a big American real estate tycoon that supports your organization who goes by that name?"

"Joseph Joestar," Marcus confirmed, giving a nod. "His grandfather, Jonathan Joestar, is the very reason the Speedwagon Foundation came about. Without Jonathan or his descendents, we wouldn't exist at all."

"Jonathan Joestar?" Mary inquired. "But your founder was Robert E.O. Speedwagon, the oil tycoon who immigrated to America from England."

Again, Marcus nodded in confirmation. "This is correct. However it was Jonathan Joestar who inspired Robert to become a better person, that led him on the path of founding the Speedwagon Foundation. Robert had devoted his entire life to assisting the Joestar family in any way that he could, and passed down that mission statement to his Foundation."

"Fantastiche!" Jonas cut in. "In that case get me a foot rub, Herr Resto."

He chuckled at his own joke, but Marcus was unamused. "There is good reason we assist the Joestars wherever possible, beyond a simple pledge of loyalty made by a man long dead. They have a, how should I call it? A certain destiny about them. The world has made a habit of placing a Joestar in the direct path of a world ending supernatural threat."

"And I thought I spun a good pitch." Jonas shrugged. "So what, this birthmark on my neck… ?"

"It has been passed down to ever child of the Joestar bloodline, never skipping a generation, never fading. It is a sign more absolute than even a DNA test that you _are_ a descendant of Jonathan Joestar." Marcus's eyes zeroed in on Jonas with laser focus, as though he were scanning and judging every last detail he could of the young man before him, attempting to determine if he really was worthy of the legacy.

Jonas wanted to fully unload how he thought the entire thing was a big load of horse crap, but Mary had beaten him to the punch. "Excuse me? Licensed physician here? Birthmarks do not work that way."

"Why would you assume magical destiny cares about what medical science has to say?" the large man shot back. Mary opened her mouth to retort, but couldn't think of a suitable reply. Normally she'd have argued against such a ridiculous statement, but after everything she'd experienced? This was all entirely new territory.

"It's clear that you need to be taught about stands. How they work, the intricacies of stand combat, and all associated details. If destiny has truly placed someone of the Joestar lineage here at the heart of these disasters, then I can only imagine that our troubles have only just begun. You need to be ready. We all do." He looked each of them in the eyes. Mary was uncertain, but was determined all the same. She would stand proud and ready to do her part, only concerned with the unprecedented information that rocked her understanding of the world.

Jonas was more difficult to pin down. He didn't avert Marcus's gaze in the least, yet it was still a troublesome task trying to gauge just what the young man felt. Somehow, against all conventions, he seemed to be avoiding eye contact without actually avoiding eye contact. Marcus had to admit, meeting someone so incredibly difficult to read was impressive in and of itself.

"Fine," Jonas said, breaking the silence. "You're the expert, where do we begin?"

"Where else, but at the beginning? You need to know your family history, starting with Jonathan Joestar."

"WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED TO MY CAR?!" screamed a large, burly man from a nearby sidewalk. He rushed toward the smoking ruins where Marcus had only minutes ago left his contact information.

"But we'll have to save that for later."

* * *

Many hours passed after the first meeting of Marcus Resto and Jonas Johan Priester. After such an exhausting series of events, and Marcus's long plane ride, everyone was eager for a few hours of good sleep. Near the stroke of midnight, Jonas approached a third rate motel. The roar of his motorcycle engine echoed across the streets, no doubt angering a number of formerly sleeping citizens and clients of the motel. Dimming the headlight, he pulled into a parking space and killed the engine. Lifting the visor of his helmet, Jonas took out a piece of paper from his jacket's breast pocket and double checked the address.

"Looks to be the place." He pulled off the helmet and packed it away into his bike's saddlebag, while the piece of paper vanished from his hand and reappeared back in his pocket. "Huh. I guess I could have teleported the paper _and_ my helmet. Maybe I shouldn't rely on my stand in mundane activities too much."

He shrugged, then approached room 221. He knocked three times, and patiently waited. No answer. He knocked again. Once more his summons went unaddressed. Frowning, he knocked one more time, rapping on the door quite hard. Still nothing. "Oh give me a break!" Jonas rolled his eyes, then willed his stand to transport him to the opposite side of the motel door.

In an instant the cold air of the outside had become a-actually no, the air was still pretty cold. Actually it might have been even colder in here! Jonas glanced down to the carpet and saw it was stained and filthy with all manner of nasty things he dare not think about. The window by the door wasn't properly sealed now that he got a look from the inside, and by the way the ceiling fan was swaying despite not being turned on, well… It was concerning. Jonas took another step into the room, looking around for Marcus, but only spotting his backpack sitting on the bed.

"Marcus?" he called out. He was answered by the sound of a flushing toilet. Followed by a few seconds, and the distinct running of faucet water, Marcus stepped into view.

"Oh, Mr. JoJo. I wasn't expecting to see you in my room." He didn't sound very surprised. The larger man pulled out a chair and offered it for Jonas, who took one look at the thing and couldn't bring himself to set his posterior on what he was ninety-nine percent certain would infest his clothes with bed bugs.

"I'm fine standing for now. Long motorcycle ride," he lied, leaning up against the wall.

Marcus smiled. "I don't blame you. I'll be fumigating my clothes before returning home." He didn't take a seat either, standing in the center of the room.

"Hahaha, I would have thought the Speedwagon Foundation would spring for better housing than this beschissen place. Who'd you piss off to get stuck here?" Jonas looked around the room as though he were standing vigilant in case of a surprise attack.

"Hahahaha, yeah, well you know, I guess since I'm the only one out here they didn't think I'd need as much funding or comfort as a full team?" Marcus laughed nervously. "But we're not here to discuss my temporary lodgings."

Jonas nodded. "So where does this story begin?"

"In England, 1881, with a cursed stone mask belonging to George Joestar-"

"George?" Jonas cut in. "I thought you said everything began with Jonathan?"

Marcus shook his head and tilted his cap upward. "Maybe you'll want to listen to the story first, and save any interruptions for when I finish?"

"Ok, ok." Jonas held up his hand, yielding. "Go on."

"Right. 1881 is the year that George Joestar took in a child as a second son. That was the year that Dio Brando was treated as a brother by Jonathan. But Dio was a fiend, born evil and only worsened by his father. He came to the Joestar household with the intention of claiming George's fortune as his own."

"Fortune?!" Jonas exclaimed, turning out his empty pockets for Marcus to see. "So do I get some of this as inheritance, or-" He was cut off by the daggers emanating from Marcus's eyes. "Right, right. Sorry Herr Resto, Continue."

Marcus sighed and lifted his left eyebrow in annoyance, but continued the story all the same. "For years Jonathan and Dio grew up together. One as righteous and pure as an angel, the other as devious and powermad as the devil. Eventually George had fallen ill as Dio began to enact his plan to poison his adoptive father, and oust Jonathan from his rightful fortune. He sought to use an artifact of the Joestar household, a cursed stone mask, to murder Jonathan. They had seen before that when it is touched by blood, spines jut out and curve into where the wearer's head should be, piercing a any would-be brains in the path."

"Wicked." Jonas nodded, quite interested.

"Extremely," Marcus agreed. "Dio discovered, however, that the mask would not kill its wearer. Instead it would make them far more powerful, transforming their body and unlocking humanity's hidden potentials. The mask would turn its wearer into a vampire. As soon as Jonathan discovered and exposed Dio's poisoning, Dio forsook his humanity."

Jonas narrowed his eyes and looked off to the side, a habit he had picked up when in deep thought. "Vampires?"

"Yes, Mr. JoJo."

"Herr Resto," Jonas turned his eyes back to make contact with his conversation partner. "The man with the stand I battled last night, he disintegrated as soon as the sun came up. He burst into dust."

Marcus took a deep breath before responding. "Then he was a vampire. There's no way around it. But that is actually great news. If the others he worked with are also vampires, then even if their stands are truly fearsome, it shouldn't be too difficult for my King of Fools to slay them outright. Just as it blinded you with burning light, it can utterly destroy them with its own starlight."

Jonas nodded in agreement, finding this development to actually be quite fortuitous. Marcus continued his story. "In any case, Dio killed George in order to complete his transformation, and he battled Jonathan in Joestar manor. The wake of their personal war left the property burnt to the ground. So no, there is no fortune inheritance for you even if we determine how exactly you are related."

"Verdammt." Jonas cursed, crossing his arms and shrugging. "Oh well. Life goes on."

"Yes. But it can turn any direction without warning, even to a dead end. Sadly this is what happened to Jonathan. He continued to battle against Dio for a great many weeks after his estate burned to the ground, and seemingly destroyed the vile creature as Dio raised an army. Jonathan married his childhood love, and they set sail for America to honeymoon. Sadly Dio had survived and stowed away with his last surviving minion. Though he was only a head, Dio's surprise attack was enough to kill Jonathan. Fortunately Jonathan sabotaged the ship, getting his wife and a lone baby to safety. Though Jonathan died, he sank Dio to the bottom of the ocean." Marcus gave pause long enough to saunter to the room's kitchen, where he pulled out a bottle of water, took a long drink, then offered a second bottle to Jonas.

Jonas shook his head and held up his hand to signal no. Marcus shrugged and took another drink, while Jonas pulled out a pack of cigarettes and a lighter. "You mind? I figure I couldn't do any more damage to this room." As soon as Marcus gestured with a thumbs up, Jonas lit the cigarette and began sucking on it, then exhaling a practiced smoke ring. "Sounds like this Jonathan was a true knallhart."

"Knallhart?" Marcus produced a pocket-size translation book and scoured it for the unfamiliar term. "Ah, I see. Yes, you could say he was a badass." He placed the book back into his pocket, then continued. "In any event, Jonathan's wife, Erina, managed to survive until she was rescued and gave birth to Jonathan's son, George II. The years past, George married and fathered Joseph Joestar with his wife before dying as a pilot in World War One."

"Joseph," Jonas perked up at hearing the familiar name. "The real estate mogul that donates to your foundation?"

"Correct. He's not much anymore, but few people can claim to have saved the entire planet, and still live to the age of 98. I met the man once, three years ago, but sadly he wasn't a strong conversationalist." Jonas could hear the disappointment in Marcus's voice. "Well, Joseph had his own adventure during World War Two. An ancient race awoke amidst the greatest war in humanity history. We never knew much about them, not even what they were called. We knew them as the Pillar Men, and they created the stone masks that turn men into vampires. Joseph saved the world from their wrath, even after their leader became the 'ultimate lifeform.' I don't have great detail on that event, but I can say that neither of us would've been born if it weren't for Joseph, as humanity would've become foodstock for the Pillar Men."

"Scheisse," Jonas cursed, taking another drag on his cigarette. He waited patiently for Marcus to continue.

"That's not the end of the Joestar legend, I assure you there is a great deal more. Nearly one hundred years after his defeat by Jonathan, in 1983, Dio awoke from his slumber beneath the waves. He afixed his head to Jonathan's body. He began his reign of terror once more from the shadows, taking up residence in Egypt. There he met a woman knowledgeable about stands and was pierced by one of the very same arrows that gave you your own stand. His empire began to grow again-"

"Sorry, sorry, I know I'm interrupting again, but this Dio person got a stand in 1983? Then how did he and Jonathan battle before? How did Joseph battle those Pillar Men?" Jonas gesticulated with an open palm out using his smoking hand.

"Pay it no mind, that's not important," Marcus waved off the question. "What's important is that because Dio was using Jonathan's body, it resonated not just in him, but in all of Jonathan's descendants living at the time. Every Joestar began to manifest a stand of their own. But a stand requires a strong mind and fighting spirit to properly control, otherwise it will kill its owner. Someone like Joseph, or his half-Japanese grandson Jotaro, would be perfectly fine. But that wasn't the case for Joseph's daughter, Holly. Her stand was draining her life bit by bit every day, so Joseph and Jotaro set out with some friends to find and kill Dio. With the source of the stand resonance dead, Holly's stand would recede and she'd be saved, while they could keep theirs due to having already attained control and mastery."

Jonas nodded. "So they went to Egypt, found this hundred year old vampire ghost user, and kicked his arsch?"

"There were casualties," Marcus spoke matter of factly. "The records I read say that the Speedwagon Foundation even lost a number of good men to Dio's stand user minions. But yes. In the end Jotaro killed Dio. He ended the war that began with his great great grandfather so long ago. His mother even made a full recovery."

"I see." Jonas took another drag of his cigarette, but something didn't feel right about it. He squinted his eyes, pondering what was off. Meanwhile Marcus continued.

"But in his time back among the living, Dio enjoyed his body greatly and all the earthly pleasures it afforded him. He fathered a number of children with various concubines enthralled to him. Since it was Jonathan's body, they are technically, and biologically, Joestars, each displaying the birthmark. And Joseph has at least one illegitimate child that we know of, Josuke Higashikata. He should be about 34 or 35 now I believe?" Marcus paused to take another drink from his bottle of water.

"Hm. Then Joseph was a pretty active old man." Jonas tried taking another suck at his cigarette, but again something was off. What was it?

"Quite. So my current working theory is that you could be a second illegitimate of Joseph's, or possibly son to one of Dio's children." The Speedwagon representative screwed the lid back onto his now empty bottle of water and tossed it into a trashcan, about seven feet away.

"That doesn't… Make sense…" Jonas mumbled, staring at the tip of his lit cigarette.

"Why doesn't it?" Marcus inquired, genuinely curious.

"Huh? Oh, no, not your theory, but that's scheissen too, since I know both of my parents. I'm talking about my cigarette." Jonas gestured up to Marcus with his smoking hand.

The large man leaned in to see what exactly his younger compatriot was talking about. At first he didn't catch on, but it only took a couple seconds to click together. The smoke wasn't dispersing aimlessly. It was drawn away, as dense as the very moment it burned off the cigarette, and heading toward the door. Despite the natural laws of convection and gas densities, the stream of smoke dipped down and vanished beneath the door.

"Watch this." Jonas took a long drag, burning away a good centimeter of the little stick. Then he exhaled the contents of his lungs. Not a trace of smoke came out.

"The smoke isn't even entering your lungs," Marcus observed. "Something like this is as unnatural as it gets. It has to be a stand."

"We'll have to postpone the history lesson then." Jonas smiled, excitement beginning to overtake him. Both men nodded, Jonas thumbed his nose while Marcus tilted his cap, and without another word they walked right out the door.

Once outside, Jonas took a moment to gauge where the smoke was moving. His eyes followed the smoke from the tip of the cigarette, across the parking lot, and down the street. The range on this stand had to be impressive, he thought. Deciding it would cut down on travel time, Jonas teleported to the side of his motorcycle. He popped open the saddle bag, latched on his helmet, hopped aboard and then pat the seat behind him as an invitation for Marcus.

Unsure due to his size, the lack of cushion remaining, and his lack of a helmet, Marcus hesitated. With a minor grunt he forced himself into the motorcycle, grabbing around Jonas's waist to secure himself.

"Keep a hand free," Jonas suggested, "so you can hold this."

He held the still lit cigarette up for Marcus to take, who gave him a confused glare in return. "I barely fit on this thing and you want me to let go of you? That's not going to happen. You hold it."

"Alright," Jonas acquiesced, "but when we crash because I can't balance the bike, I'm blaming you."

With a disapproving grumble, Marcus took hold of the burning cigarette. Jonas chuckled to himself beneath the helmet, kicked the engine into life, and the two peeled off the pavement. Wind resistance meant nothing to the smoke as it continued to travel away from them, providing a convenient, if small and visually obscure, trail to follow. Thanks to the late hour, nobody was out to get in the way of the drive, and so Jonas kicked it into high gear. He sped through the streets at high, daredevil-like speeds until they didn't need to follow a trail anymore. Their destination became quite apparent.

The flames roared high and intense, belonging to a fire that had completely engulfed a meatpacking warehouse. In order to grow this large, this intense, it had to have been burning for some time now, yet not a single puff of smoke had signalled the fire up in the air. It was all drawn down to a single point, a single figure standing just beside the inferno. At that range the heat should have been blistering the skin right off her bones, but she appeared to be quite comfortable.

Jonas parked his motorcycle about a hundred feet away, and lifted the visor of his helmet to get a better look at the woman, sending a text message to Mary Jane as he did so. From behind she appeared to be about five foot seven inches, with a medium build. Long curly brown hair fell down to her waist, obscuring her back entirely from view. If that hair had been straightened, it probably would have been dragging along the ground. He made out cut off jean shorts exposing her tanned legs. Had the jeans been cut off any shorter, they'd practically have been a thong.

Then the woman turned to look upon the new arrivals, attracted by the sound of the motorcycle engine. The most immediately noticeable feature were the eyes. Great big blue orbs reflecting the red and orange of the flames, somehow magnifying the intensity of the fire. Her lightly freckled face would have had a certain attractive quality to it, but something about those freckles felt off putting, not quite right. Not to mention she was grinning like a maniac. Over her torso was a tattered white t-shirt, tightly hugging her modestly sized chest and leaving nothing to the imagination, clearly showing how she had no bra.

The crazed woman took two steps with her platform boots, the pooling smoke following her and vanishing into her back. "Don't tell me y'all wanna ruin my fun here now, are ya?" she called out in a throaty voice.

Marcus clambered off the motorcycle with jelly legs. Jonas took the opportunity to lead the conversation while the larger man recomposed himself. "Afraid so, unless you'd be kind enough to put out that fire and have a real nice cordial-like conversation with us?"

The woman was taken aback, offended at the very notion. In her mind, Jonas might have just suggest that she cannibalize her own child. "I most definitely will not! But you're welcome to enjoy the show alongside me if you want. Maybe take that helmet off so I can get a… Look under the hood?"

How quickly she changed from disgust to a lewd suggestive face was quite astounding, and did not win her any favors in Jonas's book. "Afraid not. I'd prefer to keep the extra protection, if you don't mind." He scanned the area for any opening he could take advantage of. The smoke continued to draw from the fire, collecting in her back. Whatever her stand was, that's probably where it was working from. So a sneak attack from behind might catch her off guard, or her stand could see the attack coming and intercept, which would blow the element of surprise. He thought about another angle he could attack from. After all, he wasn't limited to teleporting to just one area. Maybe from above? The side? Or a sweep at the legs?

"I don't like it when a man brings protection." The woman put a hand on her hip and began to pout. "It ruins the fun of it all. But I suppose if you aren't here to enjoy the show, I'll just have to kill you. Oh well."

That was his cue. The woman was putting her guard up, so he had to strike now. In less time than it took to blink he suddenly found himself just above the woman, his body parallel to the ground. Two metallic arms reached out from his own arms and grabbed hold of the woman's head, squeezing to apply pressure. "AAAAAAGH!" she cried out. Gravity took its natural toll and Jonas landed on his feet, just off to the side of the arsonist. He underestimated the heat of the blazing fire. There was absolutely no moisture in the air around this woman, and he could feel his hairs beginning to melt already. He wouldn't be able to keep this up. Easy fix, he thought to himself. He would teleport the both of them a safe distance away from the flames.

Before he could call upon his stand's ability again, an inflated, balloon-like metal arm reached out from the arsonist and held its open palm no less than an inch from Jonas's face. It spewed out a thick stream of burning hot smoke laced with glowing embers, striking him right in the face as it poured thruogh the open visor of his helmet. On instinct he managed to close his eyes before being blinded, but his eyebrows burned up in an instant and his skin caught fire. Even his lungs burned as the smoke invaded through the nose. Jonas recoiled back, letting go of the woman, as he teleported away to safety all alone.

Jonas reappeared next to Marcus. He struggled to tear off his helmet then dropped it on the sidewalk, coughing and hacking up blood. Small traces of smoke left his system and were instantly pulled back toward the arsonist woman as though she were some kind of magnet. The metallic arm further separated from her, revealing the woman's stand in its entirety. It was humanoid in appearance, and appeared to be made of some sort of soot-stained metal. A feminine figure, it was filled out with plenty of muscles that would make most trained athletic men blush with envy. Despite being well filled out, the head was nothing more than a black smoke stack, with no visible eyes or other facial features to be found, putting it quite at odds with the rest of the thing's body. On its chest was a chevron shaped section of metal plating. The chevron plate lifted up, revealing a vent beneath built directly into the stand's chest. All the smoke was gathering into the stand from that vent.

"Hahahahahahahahahahahaha! I knew I'd get a chance to see what you had going on." The woman wagged her finger condescendingly, her stand mimicking the motion next to her. "It's too bad you had to get burned first; I'd have liked to have seen what you look like pristine. Oh well. Nobody lays a hand on me and gets away with it. My stand, Kerosene, sees to that!"

Marcus took a step forward, lowering the bill of his hat down below his eyes. He let out a long breath, releasing the swirling cloud that was his stand. Just as he pointed dramatically to the woman and opened his mouth, Jonas grabbed his shoulder.

"Don't," he ordered, voice full of conviction. "If you go all out, she'll die, and we won't be able to learn anything. And your stand doesn't have the staying power to subdue her in a longer fight.

"Not to mention," he added, stepping in front of Marcus. "I've got to repay her for wounding my pride."

Marcus nodded, tilted his hat back up, and relaxed his stance. He did not dismiss his King of Fools, however. "Understood. But if it looks like you're about to die, I will jump in to end things instantly. You don't have the good doctor here to rely on, Mr. JoJo."

Jonas tripped at the moment, overcome with embarrassment. "Oh come on, even in a life or death stand battle do you really have to call me-"

"Are you boys done chatting yet?" The arsonist interrupted. "Because I'd really like to skip to the part where Kerosene dowses you."

Without further warning the woman launched forward, her stand coming with. The speed of her movement, the force of her foot on the ground, there was no doubt in Jonas's mind. Just like Bowie before her, this woman was a vampire. For that very reason he didn't have the time to think over those details, he had to react in an instant. No, faster even, since Marcus was standing right behind him.

Jonas blinked and had changed position, directly behind the charging vampire. His stand appeared, and thrust a clawed hand straight toward her back. "LEBEN!" It cried. The sneak attack did not go entirely as intended. While the stand did make contact, its hand sinking a good six inches through her back, Jonas suddenly felt himself constricted. The wild mass of hair hanging from her head had turned on him, first grasping his wrists and ankles, but then tightening around his torso.

 _So these creatures can even manipulate their own hair?!_ Jonas thought, just as the wind was knocked from his gut by the tightening squeeze. The enemy's stand, Kerosene, twisted back and held out a palm toward Jonas's face just as it did before. This time he could see it with more clarity. Just like its chest, the thing had a chevron plate over the palm, which slid back to reveal a vent. Smoke and ember blasted out from the palm-vent, but this time it failed to meet its mark. Jonas and his stand teleported a good fifty feet away.

"Oooh!" He took in a big breath of air and rubbed his torso. More than the bruising, he felt itchy. Why was it so itchy? Did this woman not wash her hair? What's with that?

"Hahaha, looks like your stand has a terrible weakness!" She cackled, the mass of hair returning to its docile state. "You can zip and pop around all you like, but at the end of the day its range is laughably pathetic. You essentially have to stand right next to it, and that leaves you terribly open to all the horrible things I can do to you."

Jonas grit his teeth. "Maybe so, but I'm not afraid of a few _minor_ injuries if it means taking down a massive hexe like you!"

The woman feigned offense. "Did you just call me a bitch? You should address me by my name, Miranda! After all…" She began walking backwards, toward the blazing inferno. "I'm the woman who has already killed you!"

Marcus could no longer hold his tongue. "What are you-"

"AAAAGH!" Suddenly Jonas fell to his knees, crying out in agony, rolling around and scratching at himself. "IT BURNS! IT BUUUURRRRNS!"

Marcus shifted his gaze from Miranda, to Jonas, back to Miranda. "What did you do to him?!" His stand flared to life, swirling around his body faster and faster, rippling with his righteous anger.

Miranda kept walking, approaching dangerously close to the fire she had started. Most people couldn't take being in such heat for more than a few seconds, but she gave no signs of even breaking out in a sweat. "I've just begun improving him, that's all! Right now his insides are being torn apart, but he'll be healed soon enough, new and improved! As one of my zombies."

"You'll die first!" Marcus bellowed, extending his right palm. The nebula of his King of Fools gathered together, then blasted out a meteorite easily twice the size of the ones he had used when sparring earlier.

"Too slow!" Miranda countered. She and her stand dodged by rolling along either side of the projectile. It passed by harmlessly, colliding with the already burning building in a violent explosion. The vampiric woman stood tall, unaffected beyond her hair billowing from the shockwave.

"You'll have to get a lot closer if you want to land a blow on me, big man. But you can't take the heat, can you? No, I think I'll stay right here until my new zombie is ready for me, hahahahaha!" She exaggerated her laughter in an over the top manner, bending over backwards. Meanwhile her stand doubled over forward in mock laughter, despite having no facial features with which to laugh.

Marcus shook his head. "Wrong. I don't need to get any closer to you…" The aura of his stand flared up as Marcus struck a pose by waving his left hand in front of his face, and pointing with his right index finger. "Because you cannot possibly dodge an attack at the speed of light!"

The King of Fools kicked up its luminosity, growing brighter and brighter, brighter than the raging inferno, and brighter still until he shined like the sun itself!

"What?" was all Miranda could muster before realizing what exactly was going on. "Kerosene!" She cried out, feeling the intense pain of her outer skin layers burning away to dust. Her stand reacted with tremendous speed. All of its chevron plates opened up at once, releasing a thick black smog which gathered all around its master. The vampire howled in pain as she rubbed the exposed, tender nerves and muscles. No more starlight was getting through.

"Are you alright, my pretties? I need to know," she muttered, patting herself down.

Meanwhile, Marcus grit his teeth and flared his nostrils. He hadn't expected her to produce a literal smokescreen defense. With that smog up, and such an intense fire so close, he didn't have many options. Option one, blindly blast meteorites into the black cloud and hope for the best. Hardly ideal, since each shot used up a lot of his stand's mass, and he'd have to wait and rest outside of battle to recharge. Option two, charge in headfirst and use his stand as a shield against the flame and smog. He'd be a blind, sitting duck against her stand and superior vampire abilities, but as long as he got close enough he could incinerate her with another solar flare. Option three, sit and wait. Clearly the worst choice, as Mr. JoJo was deteriorating more and more as time pass-where did Mr. JoJo go?

Jonas fought against the pain, forcing himself to focus on the only thing that mattered. Kicking that woman's ass. He could feel the crawling, writhing, tearing sensations inside his body, but pushed them to the back of his mind. Deal with it later, take a new angle on the fight now. His enemy pulled out a thick cloud of smog to block what would have been an instantly lethal shot of sunlight, and was now hiding inside. Jonas made his resolution then and there. He'd go in and drag her arsch back out so Marcus could finish the job!

Instantly Jonas found himself within the thick smog and regret the decision as quickly. His eyes teared up, his lungs burned, and he could barely hold himself up. Slamming shut his eyes, Jonas relied on the senses of his stand. The Prisoner was unburdened by the smoke, and quickly detected its prey hidden within.

"LEBEN!" It thrust forward, its arm meeting resistance as another metallic arm blocked it. Seeing what his stand saw, Jonas took note of something unusual. Kerosene's arm wasn't as bulky as previous. The Prisoner's eyes flared bright as it launched a second punch, this one with much greater strength. The enemy stand blocked again, but this time it was knocked aside with relative ease. With Kerosene swat away like a fly, the Prisoner of Your Eye reached forward to take hold of the figure in the smog.

"I don't think so!" Came Miranda's voice, resounding throughout the entire cloud of smoke. Suddenly Jonas couldn't breathe anymore. Smoke was forcing itself down his trachea, acting on its own. It invaded through his nostrils, forced open his mouth as though it had solid substance, and even pushed through his ear canals!

Jonas couldn't even cough, the smoke inhalation was so awful. He had only one choice. He had to flee that very instant. Jonas vanished, reappearing back next to Marcus. He took a deep breath, filling his lungs with fresh oxygen. Thankfully when he teleported, he had separated the smog from his body.

"That was idiotic!" Marcus shouted. Jonas… couldn't disagree.

"Marcus, her stand. It's-" Before he could tell Marcus about how much weaker the enemy had become, he collapsed. Whatever was wreaking havoc with his body had taken its toll, and he had already inhaled enough smoke to kill a man three times his size. Jonas held on as long as he could, and passed out.

"No! Mr. JoJo!" The man from the Speedwagon Foundation dropped to his knees, checking for a pulse. He found it… barely. Marcus turned his head back to the thick black cloud, and pulled hit hat down. His King of Fools wreathed around his body like a protective armor. Delaying no longer, Marcus did what he knew he should have done to begin with, and charged forward.

He pulled up the neck of his shirt to help filter his breathing, for whatever help that would be, just before plowing into the black cloud. Immediately he had to battle the urge to cough, but the heat had proven to not be a problem for the time being. Still, he recognized how much of a disadvantage he was in. Since his stand wasn't a humanoid type, it had no senses he could share. Assuming he blindly found Miranda, he would have to extend his stand outward to attack, leaving him open to the intense heat as well as a counter assault. Even assuming he found and killed her, he couldn't guarantee not to die himself of asphyxiation.

Damn it all, he thought. The situation was all his fault. He was to blame. He took on this mission himself, and now he was going to get some unrelated kid killed alongside him. This whole situation was fucked unless he found-wait, was that her? A shadow stood in the darkness, a silhouette that was the only frame of reference he had. That had to be it! Marcus concentrated, forming his nebula into a pointed spear-like tendril, and directed it to pierce straight through the figure's chest.

"AAAAAGH!" Bingo. She was impaled, now to burn her to dust from the inside out. The tendril brightened intensely, shining its starlight. Miranda was finished. So why wasn't there a second bowling of pain?

A thin metallic hand shot out from the smoke, wrapping its fingers around his face. In a panic, Marcus tried to recall his stand to defend himself, but it was too late. Smog forced through every orifice on his face. Marcus collapsed onto the ground, barely hanging onto consciousness. A second later Miranda kneeled by his side, Kerosene on his opposite side. The stand lacked all its muscles, barely bigger than a twig.

"It's good fortune you attacked my stand instead of me. I rather appreciate not being dead. That's an extremely troublesome ability you have. Troublesome enough that it could get me my freedom. Yes. Yes, if I make you both my zombies, then I can get my freedom for sure." Miranda leaned over Marcus's face, allowing him the first up close view of her face they'd been able to get. From this angle it was easy to see why her freckles had been so off putting before. They weren't freckles at all. Writhing and squirming through the pores on her face, a large number of small red ants crawled out of her body, marching off the vampire's chin and onto his own body.

"I should explain, since you're about to be mine forever." She toyed with him by winking. "These fire ants have bonded to my body as their colony, partaking in my blood. They are my zombies. They'll do to you what they've been doing to the yummy guy: tear apart your body from the inside, and deposit my blood directly into your heart. Once my blood pumps through your veins, hahaha, well, I'm sure you follow."

Marcus couldn't move. He had been paralyzed by the smoke in his system, and the fear of his situation. He could only watch in utter horror as Miranda opened up her mouth, revealing a swarm of fire ants. "Pucker up." Slowly her mouth descended upon his own. He could do nothing as he felt the swarm invade the inside of his mouth. His gag reflex kicked in, coughing up dozens of bugs at a time, but it was hardly enough. The telltale sign of their infectious bite burned all down his throat.

"LEBEN!" Suddenly Miranda was launched away from his body, tumbling along the ground. He kept coughing, hacking up fire ants and smoke. His muscles and skin cried out in a familiar pain, as both the toxic air and poisonous insects were forcibly expelled out from his body. He hadn't noticed, thanks to the pitch black smog, but he saw now that everything around had a slight purple hue to it. He was in range of Free Fallin', which meant…

"Mr. JoJo!" Marcus joyously cheered, standing to his feet. Sure enough, just behind where he Miranda had once been he now saw Jonas, as well as his avian stand. "Doctor Jane must've arrived, I take it?"

Jonas didn't bother with the question, feeling the answer to be obvious enough. Instead he said, "You held the fort down well. Let me finish her off."

Marcus nodded, not needing to be told twice, and gladly retreated out of the smog. Jonas stood still, holding back the hacking and coughing, feeling the blazing heat no more than ten feet away. He lacked the protection offered by Marcus's stand. If it hadn't been for the constant healing of Free Fallin', he knew he'd already have been dead.

"Finish me off?" Miranda commented incredulously, slowly stepping forward. "You can't handle me in my cloud! This close to the fury of my flame! But I _am_ impressed. You're still standing now, after everything that's happened. But you'll still become my zomb-"

She stopped right in her tracks, noticing his face for the first time. She cocked her held to the side, really studying its features. "I burned your face." It wasn't a question.

"Ja. You wanted to see what I look like pristine? Here it is." Jonas took a second to thumb his nose, before pointing directly at her, then giving a thumbs down. "Now you get to see me pristinely kick your arsch! Prisoner of Your Eye!"

"LEBEN!" The Prisoner reached forward, slamming a fist into Miranda at high speed and jetting her body back for the second time, right out of the smoke cloud and into the blaze. Jonas followed, teleporting directly in front of her. Kerosene was ready to defend its user with its small twig-like body, and took every blow the faster, stronger stand tossed out. "LEBENLEBENLEBENLEBENLEBENLEBEN!"

Kerosene crumpled like paper beneath the Prisoner's onslaught, its user feeling every single punch, every talon clawing into its body. The building was burning down around them, an intense heat that would suffocate men in seconds. Jonas stood tall above his enemy, showing no indication he was bothered at all.

"You said there was a huge flaw in my stand, that its range is limited to being right next to me and that opens me up. You're not wrong." He warped to the vampire's right, then used his stand to kick her straight up, busting through the floor right above them, and warped next to her a second time.

"But your stand has a huge flaw too. I figured it out after you made that thick smog cloud. It controls smoke, but it can't make any for itself. You rely on outside sources. The more smoke Kerosene stores away, the stronger it gets. But the opposite is also true, isn't it?" His stand grabbed Miranda by the neck, then hurled her over its shoulder straight back down the hole she made going up. Before she could recover, he was standing right behind her. "The more smoke it expels, the weaker it gets. That's why you wouldn't move your smoke cloud further from the fire. You'd have risked fighting us with your beschissen weak stand!"

"WRYYY!" cried out the vampire, lurching forward with fangs exposed. It was an exercise in futility, as her speed simply could not compete, and she wound up with metal claws in her lungs as a result. Kerosene appeared again, leaping forward from her body and sucker punching the Prisoner right in the face. Jonas felt the impact in his own jaw, but it was little more than the punch of a schoolyard bully.

"Stand down," he ordered.

"Hahahahahahaha! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Stand down? Maybe. Maybe I should. You, a mere human, is standing amidst flames that should have killed you five times over by now. You were so susceptible to my Kerosene, and to my zombie fire ants, so where does this strength come from?" It seemed that being pierced through the lungs and held aloft by the chest had done little to temper her speaking.

"My body is constantly burning and healing," Jonas answered. "But I've been burned before. I can take it."

Miranda cocked her head in a mix of curiosity and excitement. "Really? You need to tell me about that! What kind of fire was it? How big? How did it star-Urk!"

"Nein," Jonas shook his head, his stand squeezing her heart with its hand. "Don't try to con a conman. I recognize a stall tactic when I see one."

"Who's stalling?" She shrugged. "I'm curious how such a handsome man can have all this on top of looks."

In response, Jonas teleported the both of them outside the building. Marcus and Mary were standing together nearby, and both came running forward as soon as he appeared with their enemy. "You were drawing more smoke back to your stand to empower it again. I think it's time we took you somewhere there's not going to be any smoke so we can have a nice private chat. What do you think?"

Miranda's nose twitched as she looked away to the side, as though she were more annoyed than frightened. "Fine."

"I suppose we found the source of the bizarre arsons," Mary commented. "The ones that nobody reported in time because there wasn't any smoke?"

"Only there'll be a tremendous amount of smoke for the one," Marcus pointed out, gesturing the thick black smog Miranda had made earlier. Without her stand to actively control it, the cloud had begun to behave normally, drifting up into the sky. The fire was producing the usual amount of smoke too, since it was no longer being absorbed.

"Best that we're gone, then." Jonas fished out a set of keys and tossed them to Marcus. "Here, the keys to my bike. Driving with this one would be too much hassle, so we'll travel by teleport spam."

"And where exactly do you propose we _go_ , hm?" Mary asked, arms crossed.

Jonas opened his mouth to speak, paused to think, then said, "I hadn't thought about that. Marcus's hotel?"

The large man shook his head. "Not secure enough."

Mary sighed. "Let's go back to the hospital. We can use the morgue basement. Police investigation isn't happening on the levels below ground, there's nobody she can hurt, no possibility of sunlight accidentally killing her…"

"Good thinking, liebling." Jonas beamed a smile, which she returned. Miranda let out a sickened groan.

"There's just one problem with this plan," Marcus cut in. "How in the hell do you expect me to drive your motorcycle?!"

* * *

 _Kerosene_

Stand User - Miranda

Power - B  
Speed - C  
Range - A  
Durability - A  
Precision - C  
Potential - A

 _Note: Stats given are for Kerosene at maximum power._


End file.
